(CC BY-SA 2.0) by Brian Smith/Flickr
I believe in simplicity. It seems to me that at its most simple, reaching any goal is the result of the application of two things: Attitude and effort!
If you are looking for a short motivational commencement speech that students and their families will remember and be grateful for, just say it’s all about attitude and effort. For the mathematically inclined in the audience, the formula is Attitude + Effort = Achievement.
How You Think Affects What You Do
Attitude is the way you think and feel about someone or something. Your attitude is reflected in your behavior. Effort is a vigorous or determined behavior. Your effort is reflected in your achievements.
The better your attitude, the more you achieve. The more effort you give, the more you achieve. A positive attitude paired with a strong effort leads to the greatest achievements.
When you think about it, there are really only two things in life that you have complete control over: your attitude and effort. Attitude and effort are everything.
Attitude is your mindset and opinion about someone or something. Your attitude makes you who you are. Attitude drives effort, your words, behaviors, and all of your actions.
Attitude and effort can be applied to learning a skill, physical fitness, losing weight, success in business, preparing for an exam, recovering from an injury or developing a relationship. In all of these areas, you only have complete control over your attitude and effort.
Our Attitude is Our Only Choice
Life events are going to happen. Our attitude about them is our own choice. No matter what people say or do to us, or when chance has its way with us, how we react to what is said or happens is our decision and choice. Attitude and effort are the two factors we can control, and we can decide how to utilize these factors every single day.
Simply put, our attitude determines how those events will affect us, and our effort will determine what we do about them.
The greatest factor determining our success may be our effort, and our effort is often determined by our attitude.
There is a short poem from a Longfellow “The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.”
How much effort are you willing to give in order to succeed at your health and fitness? How much will you focus on doing the necessary work when other distractions come up, or you feel too tired, frustrated or hungry to do any more?
Those are your defining moments. Those are the moments that reveal your true attitude and effort. What are you willing to sacrifice in the short term for success in the long-term?
How to Make a Good Effort
Once you have a positive attitude, here are 10 ideas to help improve your effort:
- Be efficient.
- Start early in the day.
- Do the harder things first.
- Have a functional plan.
- Develop your system with practice.
- Modify your system as you learn more.
- Focus on the process not the outcome.
- Do your best until it becomes a habit.
- Be open to the advice of others who have been there before you.
- Be grateful you can have a positive attitude and strong effort.
Have I mentioned attitude and effort?
By Dr. J, a maxillofacial surgeon living in Florida. Dr. J has travelled to Haiti to treat indigent patients and has taught as an associate professor at a Florida dental college. In his spare time Dr. J is a dedicated runner as well as a pilot who flies his Piper Cherokee Arrow throughout Florida. He has a black belt in karate. Dr. J has written for CalorieLab since 2007.
