Effort is Key

We often hear the word effort being used in the context of performance. I would like to impart to the boys one very simple message based on the word effort, which for me, is the essence of achieving "personal excellence", one of the things we promote at Scotch.

We hear the term effort used in many statements such as 'He put a lot of effort into finishing the project on time', 'it wasn't easy, but it was worth the 'effort', 'We need to expend extra effort', and 'Our success is due to the combined efforts of many people'.

Quite often the word is used to affirm that a team or individual, while not successful did at least try. If you get an 'A' for effort you are given credit for working hard to do something, even though the result of the work was not successful. On many occurrences, I have watched boys competing in sport and, in some cases, even though they didn't win, the team did put in a lot of effort. The secret is walking away from anything knowing that you couldn't have put in any more effort.

In the classroom effort is everything. We all know that everyone has varying gifts and abilities, most of which we had no control upon. The one thing we can control is our effort and commitment. What I ask of each boy is to work hard, expend extra effort and through this they can achieve their best, which is the very essence to achieving personal excellence.

History is littered with examples of the most naturally talented individuals never reaching their potential due to a lack of effort or commitment. The trick is to take control of the one variable you can, that is, effort.