There are many domains where consistent input produces reliable output.
We put effort/resources in, the process progresses, and something we want comes out the other side.
Examples:
- We put food in the oven, switch it on, and wait. After enough time has passed – assuming we prepared correctly – we can take it out and enjoy a delicious, fully cooked meal.
- We show up to a running track 3 days a week, doing our best to run a little further or faster each session. After enough time passes, we find ourselves hitting speeds or covering distances we couldn’t have imagined when we first started out.
- We start studying a subject which is completely unfamiliar to us. At first, it feels impossible. But with the continued application of effort, what was once magic can become mundane in its simplicity.
In each of these cases, the quality of our effort is important.
Food cooks better when the ingredients are combined well, when we use good tools, and when our oven is set to the correct temperature.
Running at a challenging (yet still manageable) pace drives faster improvement than working below our threshold.
And studying with the television on while we’re half-distracted by our phone is much more inefficient than focusing entirely on the task at hand.
If we stick with them, even half-baked approaches get us closer to our goals. But there’s a limit to how far minimal dedication will take us.
There’s something to be said for knowing your limits. For doing the best you can, even if circumstances are against you.
But wherever possible, we want to give as much of our effort as we can to the things we care about.
Our most precious resource – time – is non-renewable. Once it’s gone, it’s gone: never to return again.
If we’re going to spend it pursuing something, it’s worth pursuing it properly. Investing fully in the process so that we achieve whatever it is we care about.
Whether something is “worth doing” in the first place is a judgment we can only make for ourselves. Worth is relative – a subjective measure of the value we place in an activity or outcome.
But once we’ve decided it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.
The alternative is to let our time, effort, attention and energy fritter away as we halfheartedly chase goals across multiple domains at once:
Seeing everything but attaining nothing.