It’s the effort that counts

At some point in life, you realize it’s really not the effort that counts. Sure, you can probably mostly get by with the effort, but it will probably only be, ‘probably’ and ‘mostly’. In the end, if your results don’t show, then the effort put in really wouldn’t be proportional.

I think I’m at that first point in life where it tells me I can shove my ‘G/S/N’ attitude up somewhere because no one cares — good, satisfactory, needs improvement. At Chapters the other day, I was picking out an MCAT review book and I saw a guide book on heading to medical school so I flipped it open and read a few pages. First title I saw was something along the lines of, “so you still think the effort counts”. The paragraph described a scenario where you had worked really hard, long hours on this term paper, but in the end only got a mark of 67%. Then it went on to say, if you’re feeling angry or disappointed from this mark, then you are probably not ready to apply for medical school. The book explains that as much as we like to think effort will get us places, it won’t. This really reminded me of a group essay I wrote during the year for an anthropology course, the mark we got was decent, but we thought it wasn’t dazzling for the effort we put into this essay. This, along with what was said in the book, really got me thinking about this effort/reward proportion.

This slow epiphany probably arose from a culmination of things I experienced so far this summer. One was the guide book and essay. The next one came from my watching a Korean drama. The title loosely translates to “God of Study” or “Study God” and the drama chronicles the journey of 5 senior students who never had good marks aiming to pass the entrance exam for the number 1 ranked university, under the tutelage of this newly arrived teacher. I won’t spoil it too much for anyone interested, but it goes without saying they’re all trying really hard, studying late into the night, waking up early to study more, doing nothing but studying. They’ve had several small exams throughout to evaluate themselves and now they’re preparing for this mock exam similar to the entrance exam. This one student, he’s been working extra hard for this mock exam because his previous evaluations haven’t been great. Come time for this mock exam, he goes in thinking if not great, at least it will be much better from his previous evaluations. He does terribly, even worse than the previous tests. Of course he’s devastated, all that effort and that’s all he has to show for so he decides he’s going to quit. Then this newly arrived teacher storms in and almost didn’t slap him across the face. A typical reaction would probably to console the poor boy, but no, the teacher says to him what does it matter that you failed to achieve your goals this time, try harder, keep trying harder. The boy goes ballistic hearing that since he’s already been trying harder and lashes out saying he knew he won’t make it to the university anyway so why keep trying. Then the teacher says something I didn’t expect, and this was what got me thinking; how can you possibly make it to anywhere if you have the preconceived notion that you will fail anyway. It is because your mind is filled with this notion that no matter what effort you try to put in, none of it will stay, none of it will matter, because it will just be pushed out by your thoughts of failure.

So, working hard or hardly working? That phrase isn’t all a joke. Working hard, putting in the effort, doesn’t mean you’re doing it right, doing it well. One last thing, happened today actually, brought this all together and into perspective for me. I’m preparing for my Royal Conservatory of Music cello ARCT Performer’s exam; it’s the last week and a half and the final stretch so my teacher, my accompanist, me, we’re all pushing really hard. But today I had a rehearsal and nothing was good enough yet. My teacher’s telling me to do more. I need to do this, need to do that, more of this, more of that. I was so bewildered because since the last time I had a rehearsal, about 4 days ago, I really worked hard and practised, but it simply wasn’t good enough. This really enforced the message, working hard and doing well can be two very different things. I was actually a little more than bewildered, on the verge of breaking down almost, because nothing has ever come this hard to me before. Hell, even learning cello at first was easier. But my effort for the exam really won’t count for anything if I can’t pass it.

I think this is a reality of things that comes hard to grasp. Parents still tell their kids, it’s the effort that counts or as long as you’ve tried. Which, despite this entire post, isn’t all a lie. To achieve anything, you would first have to put in the effort. Although, don’t get confused with the ends justifies the means. This is more of a thought on whether the means justifies the ends.

Even though the ratio between effort and result is sometimes greatly disproportionate, the ratio between effort and result is definitely proportional. Do it and do it well.

作是要有始有終。既然決定要做那就下定決心，闖出來，做好來，別中途而廢。

piece.lemur