Don't you hate it when...

[JohnChops]

you work so hard on something, study so hard for something, put your all into whatever you're doing only to get mediocre results?

 

[Mike32ct]

Yes. Sometimes we get spoiled because we secure great results sometimes without too much effort. Maybe it was easy. Maybe we have a natural talent/gift for that area.

Then other times, we bust our BALLZ and the results are mediocre at best. We try HARDER as if wanting to "force" or "muscle" (i.e. arm twist) our results to come. But they don't. It SUCKS.

That's what's happening with me with dance class. I'm doing very well with he slower dances and getting compliments from the instructor. During tango, the instructor held up a piece of paper that said "10" when I went by with my partner. Ok great. And I've barely been practicing it.

But I'm struggling and barely keeping my head above water on the fast dances, despite practicing 10x as much. I'm not quitting because I need to know both.

Back to the topic at hand, I think some areas just have a much more steep and difficult learning curve than others. We have to accept that and keep a long term view. Some school subjects will be easy for you, and others will kick your a$s for a long time until you finally "get it."

A former professor of mine told me that, "Learning occurs after the fact." In other words, the material often "clicks" later than you need/want. You might want to ace that subject NOW. But it might not fully click until a year later or maybe more. It happens on it's own time schedule, not yours.

This happens in the game. We might not fully "see" a missed opportunity for a lay until it's too late. But it's not a waste. We know for next time.

 

[PlayHer Man]

you work so hard on something, study so hard for something, put your all into whatever you're doing only to get mediocre results?

Most people are fooled into believing hard work always bares fruit. The key to success is working SMART. We all get opportunities in life but not all of us know what to do with them.

Read "The tale of the man who was too lazy to fail". Great ideas often come out of laziness. We find shortcuts to save time and energy. This is working "smart".


Regarding the Tale of the Man Who Was Too Lazy to Fail : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Enough_for_Love#The_Tale_of_the_Man_Who_Was_Too_Lazy_to_Fail

It is an interesting and useful story that illustrates several aspects of human nature that we should all be aware of.

First, is the tendency of people to do the same things over and over again without questioning why they are doing them.

Second, it shows how seeing things from different angles is vitally important if you really want to succeed in life. Many folks like to "follow the herd", convinced that there is safety in numbers.

Third, while blinding ambition is not necessarily a bad thing, many people who are successful become so not through trickery, deception, and sharp practice, but rather through lack of ambition and the use of innovation in the place of hard work. The people who desperately climb the corporate ladder - willing to stab a co-worker in the back at a moment's notice - rarely really "succeed" in life, either on a financial or personal level

 

[speed dawg]

you work so hard on something, study so hard for something, put your all into whatever you're doing only to get mediocre results?

I can sleep easy if that's the way it went down.

 

[AAAgent]

you work so hard on something, study so hard for something, put your all into whatever you're doing only to get mediocre results?

I was never really book smart and have been really bad at math and english. I never studied or read books until during and post college. I remember i would study so hard for tests in college and fail them or get horrible grades. I would also spend all night writing papers and also got horrible grades. What can you really expect though? putting a few hours of studying or a few weeks, when others before you have been studying their whole lives and then also put in the same amount of studying you did before a test. Obviously, you're going to be at a disadvantage.

I've been working my whole adult life to make up for this gap by constantly reading new books of all sorts. Educational, classical, fantasy, anything that gets me reading, learning new words, and thinking. 3-5 years i'm writing short stories that people enjoy reading and find entertaining. I've also written a business paper for a competition that made the top 10 out of 100.

Coming from horrible math skills and no analytical background, i got a job in the finance industry as an analyst. Everyday i try to work harder than all my peers because i know my foundation is that much weaker than theirs.

If you put in alot of effort but aren't getting the results, that's only because you lack the foundation. If you continue putting in that effort, it will build upon that lacking foundation you have making it stronger and add to your experience. Hard work does ALWAYS bear fruit, but hard work doesn't happen in a month or a week. It takes months or even years to develop. Be happy with improvement and continue improving as each improvement moves you closer to that goal your trying to reach. If you believe in hardwork and have the will to continue pushing through small gains, you'll hit all those marks you've set for yourself eventually.

-----

An example of what for my career began as a sh1tty start then turned into mediocre and ended up pretty great.

2008-2009 i was graduating with the market crashing and no jobs available. I have a horrible GPA and go to a low key university. My degree is not finance, accounting, econ, or marketing related but i wanted a job in those fields.

I applied to about 900 job applications documented in excel and only got 27 interviews and 3 job offers. I had a 40 hours per week position as a temp and also a FT position that paid 35k on the table. I turned down the 35k job because the temp job was with a huge company and offered great experience and i was looking big picture. My friends are making 50-55k as i am getting paid $15 per hour.

6 months into my temp job i land a Full time job in NYC as an analyst for 40k.
1 year later i land an account manager job at the same company for 45k+20k in bonus. ( I win a few competitions with money and get a raise).

I now make close to 70k in a little over 3 years when i started off at $15 per hour. I'm about on par with most of my friends that got great jobs out of college. If you let mediocre results get to you and stop pushing forward, you'll be stuck in that mindset and never because to achieve your goals.

 

[White Boy]

you work so hard on something, study so hard for something, put your all into whatever you're doing only to get mediocre results?

No.

Because it teaches me I didn't actually work as hard as I thought I did.

But you mention studying, who cares how some teacher measures your worth? To me, results are measured by how much value I put in the world and how many lives I impact haha.

#ElliotHulse


p.s. maybe I didnt understand your post correctly. To me it just sounds like youre upset about some test grade.

 

[White Boy]

Most people are fooled into believing hard work always bares fruit. The key to success is working SMART. We all get opportunities in life but not all of us know what to do with them.

Read "The tale of the man who was too lazy to fail". Great ideas often come out of laziness. We find shortcuts to save time and energy. This is working "smart".


Regarding the Tale of the Man Who Was Too Lazy to Fail : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Enough_for_Love#The_Tale_of_the_Man_Who_Was_Too_Lazy_to_Fail

It is an interesting and useful story that illustrates several aspects of human nature that we should all be aware of.

First, is the tendency of people to do the same things over and over again without questioning why they are doing them.

Second, it shows how seeing things from different angles is vitally important if you really want to succeed in life. Many folks like to "follow the herd", convinced that there is safety in numbers.

Third, while blinding ambition is not necessarily a bad thing, many people who are successful become so not through trickery, deception, and sharp practice, but rather through lack of ambition and the use of innovation in the place of hard work. The people who desperately climb the corporate ladder - willing to stab a co-worker in the back at a moment's notice - rarely really "succeed" in life, either on a financial or personal level

i agree with this post also

 

[goundra]

dunno about the others, but I'm retired on my investments. you can be too, in a very few years, sub 5 years, actually. it's pretty easy if you know what to do. Guys who don't believe me can just keep butting their heads on a brick wall for 50 years. serves them right.