Get to know my perspective on efforts in two contexts

Effort is an act of commitment or determination towards a course with the hope of making it work or attaining a height. Effort is like fuel that keeps us energetic to continue on the track of our goals and aspirations. I've had several situations in my life whereby my efforts speak volumes about the achievements or heights I was able to attain, and I've also had scenarios where I didn't put in much effort. Both scenarios come with lessons, and today I'll be taking you through both and the lessons I learned from them.

Several years back, during my undergraduate days, I didn't begin my studies on the right note, and that made me fail some of my courses. With that, I was at the brink of being given the advice to withdraw by the institution; in fact, some of the guys I moved with in my freshman year were sent out of the school for their woeful results, and from the impending doom that awaits me if I continue on that path of unseriousness, I decided to have a rethink.

Realizing that if I were to get sent out of the school, then that could be the last of my education, as my father might decide not to sponsor me again, I returned and took my studies very seriously as though my life depended on it. I was literally reading at every given time, moving from one tutorial to another, and also making sure I attended to every assignment or project we were given.

And by the time we did the next examination, I moved from someone whose results were filled with fail, D, and C to someone whose results had nothing less than a B in all courses. The changes were so noticeable that my head of department had to pat me on the back for changing my fate with my seriousness; I guess they already prepared my sending-off letter. I'm thinking I'll perform poorly again.

Well, fortunately, my efforts in my academics didn't go to waste; I can even remember being called back to write a particular subject examination because the lecturer felt I cheated, but fortunately for me, despite being alone in the exam hall with three supervisors, I still did pretty well and got an A, and that's how the lecturer truly agreed that I hadn't cheated and had taken my academics seriously.

And by the time I graduated, it was a delight to see that I, being one of the worst performing students, ended up being among the top 10 students with good grades in my department. It brings joy to my heart, and I can't help but agree that truly putting in effort pays off. Had I not committed myself to turning things around, I wouldn't have had the positive changes I had.

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An example of when I put in great effort into something and never got the results I wanted was during the COVID period. I then worked at a factory in Kano State as a supervisor, and my duties included monitoring my team to make sure they produced the number of thorns of products expected of us daily.

Despite the amount of effort I put in, I wasn't seeing positive results, and I was getting queried by the manager on a daily basis as he continually doubted my ability to guide the team. To make a difference, I decided to join those workers under me by working on the machine as well, with the hope that if they see me working, maybe they'll do the same.

That actually made a difference, but it was minimal and not up to what is expected of us. I was at a crossroads and unsure of what to do next because I'd invested all of my time to make things work and yet there wasn't a difference, so I decided to monitor each worker and know what the course of our daily shortage was, and that's how I discovered the problem.

While spying on them, I realized three of them hardly put in any effort to work, especially when they realized I wasn't around. I called each one separately, letting them know what was at stake: either buckle up or get fired. Only one of them changed after three days, so I tender the names of those who weren't working for sacking, asking that the management help me replace them with other workers.

With that implementation, the others braced themselves, knowing fully well that if they got sacked, they wouldn't be getting any job elsewhere since most factories weren't allowed to operate due to the lockdown. That singular act changed the attitude of all my workers, and we began to produce more than what was even expected of us. I was glad once again.

From these scenarios, I learned that efforts aren't always all about strength or investing all of our power and energy in something; sometimes, all it takes is critical thinking and vetting of the situation to help navigate a way forward. That doesn't mean a leader can't lead by example; what I'm saying in essence is that had I not let those guys go out of pity, then I might have lost my job due to their reluctant attitude towards work.

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That's all about my experience with efforts in different contexts, from which I learn lessons. The article was inspired by the hive learners community features prompt; you can read this post to get more details.

Thanks for your support and time, have a blessed day.