“Full effort is full victory.” These were the words of Mahatma Gandhi whose efforts freed India from British rule.
Achieving your worthy goals is good, but failure to reach a goal does not necessarily mean your effort was in vain. Gandhi is saying that you will be a winner in the game of life if you give your best effort regardless of the outcome.
Who you become due to your effort is more important than what you get from it. Did your effort towards a goal make you a better human being? Did giving the best of yourself build strong character? Did you learn anything worthwhile that will help you and others? If you answered “yes” to these questions then you are victorious.
Knowing in your heart that you gave full effort will bring you a certain peace of mind and satisfaction. This is not to say that you should not desire a successful outcome. However, if you concern yourself with the effort, the results are likely to occur. If your focus is on learning, growing and improving you will get better at anything you do. On the other hand, if you try to avoid failure and mistakes or strive for perfection, you will limit your own growth opportunities. People who fear failure often avoid the very challenges that could stretch them to new heights.
You can approach your education as a journey and opportunity to learn and improve yourself. Or you can only concern yourself with grades and then miss out on many learning opportunities. If you work hard and focus on learning, your grades are likely to get better as a result. Students who are overly concerned with grades and with avoiding mistakes or failure often bypass hard courses and challenging opportunities which could have provided great learning experiences. They hold back, play it safe and don’t give their best so they can say, “I didn’t really try.” Others look at so called failures and mistakes as feedback for their self-improvement and they make a full effort for the learning experience.
Give yourself credit for making an all out effort and value the learning, growth and improvement even its small. Give the best of yourself regardless of the outcome and you will be a winner in the game of life.
Copyright 2009. Raymond Gerson
All the best,
Raymond Gerson
