Have you been tempted to give up on a goal or milestone you set out to achieve because you failed to see immediate results? We’ve all been there. We start a project half-heartedly (or even wholeheartedly), we get excited and set the plan in motion. Truth is, if we expect to see results without much patience, determination, confidence and hard work, we may feel like giving up especially when we’ve experienced a set-back.
Beinspired by Moyo’s experience below.
One of the many lessons life has taught me is that hard work ALWAYS pays off regardless.
I think the first time this stood out for me was in secondary school. I absolutely detest Maths and I knew that in order for me to pass my WAEC Maths (GCSE equivalent) I had to put in some serious effort. Since I sometimes deceived myself by copying the answers to the Maths assignments from my friends (I probably wouldn’t have if I knew better at the time), somehow I had to pass.
A few months before the exam I asked a few of my friends (S/O to Toni Aladekomo, Tina Palmer and Chisom Obi) to have Maths lessons with me. It’s hard to work hard especially when you’re dealing with something you don’t like, but if it’s got to be done, it’s got to be done especially since Maths was/is a compulsory subject.
The one thing that made it harder was the fact that I had to give up siesta for these lessons because that was the only time everyone was free to meet up. Now, you know you have good friends when they are willing to give up their own siesta time just to help you pass.
Fast forward a few months later it was time for the exam. I went in feeling fairly nervous but slightly confident since I had done quite a bit of practice; however once the exam was over, I started crying because I knew I had failed as in F9 fail. I had no clue what happened but I just could not seem to calculate anything right in the exam. As I got out of the exam hall, I remember my friends coming over to console me saying I would be fine but I knew I couldn’t be fine with the answers I wrote down in the exam and considering the fact that on a scale of 1-10 my faith level at the time was about 3.2, I wasn’t trusting God either for a miracle.
God definitely had mercy on me because a few days after writing this Maths exam, we were told that it had been cancelled due to a nation-wide cheating. I was very grateful to have been given a second chance and knew that this time I had to give it my best shot. I worked harder-did a bit more practice, PRAYEEEED hard lol and told God that if I could get anything but a D7, E8 or F9, I would give a testimony in front of my church (Now this was big because at the time I couldn’t even present to a group of people let alone stand in front of a congregation).
After the second attempt, I felt better but I was still uncertain what to expect. Opening my WAEC results had to be one of the most nerve-racking things I had ever done (haha). Well, I opened it and felt such RELIEF that I hadn’t failed Maths! I was awarded a C6 but it was still a C. I didn’t have to resit Maths when I came to the U.K for my A levels because I had a C in it. It would have been a different scenario if I got anything lower. I did give the testimony even though I was a little shy lol but I think in a way it actually helped increase my confidence.
I have seen hard work come through in other areas for me. If I put in more time/effort at the gym or during my devotion or even with my house chores, I definitely see better/greater results.
Sometimes we start off working hard but when we see no results when we expect to, we may want to give up. When I feel like giving up, I look at the lives of athletes who have to train HARD to be in the right form for a major game which determines their performance. As well as hard work, it takes perseverance to achieve desired results. Apart from athletes, I look at the lives of people who have made a difference and what measures they took to achieve greatness or even look back to times when I’ve worked hard and persevered to the end and seen results.
1Corin. 9:24– Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the price.
Ecc. 9:10– Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might.
Beinspired,
Moyo.
Integr8.Africa 