Cheers to Grit: Celebrating Our Efforts (Because No One Else Will)

Hey there, fellow champions of persistence! Today’s episode is a heartfelt dive into a truth we often overlook: Effort matters. Yep, it’s time to raise our metaphorical glasses and toast to the sweat, the late nights, and the sheer determination.

So, let’s rewind to my childhood. Picture a young me, sitting at the kitchen table, clutching a spelling test with a shiny A+. The praise flowed like honey: “Brilliant! You’re destined for greatness!” But here’s the twist: Nobody high-fived me for the hours spent memorizing those pesky words.

Fast-forward to adulthood. Life throws curveballs—work projects, personal goals, that stubborn treadmill at the gym. Suddenly, the A+ isn’t guaranteed. But guess what? The effort—the gritty, roll-up-your-sleeves kind—that’s our secret weapon.

In this episode, I spill the tea on why celebrating effort matters. It’s not about trophies or gold stars; it’s about honoring the grind. I share personal stories—the messy drafts, the failed attempts, the “I’ll-just-try-one-more-time” moments.

And let’s talk outcomes. Sure, they’re sweet when they align with our dreams. But the real magic? It’s in the journey—the zigzags, the detours, the “Oops, I tripped, but I’m getting up.”

So, my fellow effort warriors, let’s raise those invisible glasses. Cheers to the late-night revisions, the sore muscles, and the courage to face rejection. Imperfections are our canvas—the brushstrokes that make us beautifully human.

Take me on the ride and let’s celebrate the hustle. Because guess what? No one else will. But that’s okay; we’ve got this.

Anything else you’d like to explore or discuss?  Let me know—I’m all ears! 🌟👂✨

Creatives and entrepreneurs have so much in common - let's bridge the gap of acknowledgement and leverage our creativity!

Stay tuned for upcoming episodes (post episode #7) for interviews with exceptional creatives and entrepreneurs from around the world!

And stick around to follow the journey of an artist in business school (me!) - hope I am able to help you in your journey to career freedom!

Transcript

1:19

I was quite a high performing child. I never really struggled with school. I did pretty well in sports. I was able to socialize with, children my age. I was never like a super difficult child. At least my parents, tell me this now. and that's me and my sister. we did so well and we were quite independent in our studies that my parents got used to us being good, being kind of above average with GPAs and being quite diligent. we just did what we had to do, especially when it came to our academic studies and school and all of that. Didn't really get into trouble or anything like that. of course there were some ups and downs, you know, we're all teenagers at one point, we all kind of do silly things like sneaking out of the house or drinking when you shouldn't, all of that, right? Today I want to talk about how I think a big reason why I and many other women, struggle with, pushing through difficulty, I think it stems from having been praised for our accomplishments as opposed to our efforts. Because, I mean, school for me was fine. I did fine. I mostly got A's and B's, I was never like, the top of the top, but I did graduate, in the higher level or whatever, and it was the same through university, to my parents eyes, it was almost, like, they had built an understanding that we would Succeed in life and do well for ourselves because, our history showed that we're totally capable, which we are. But I think one place where we were failed as children stems from the fact that we were just, our efforts weren't praised, our accomplishments were. Because things came easily to me and, you know, to my sister. I mean, it's not like I didn't put in work to get good grades. It's not like I didn't study, or try. It's just that we would regularly get great grades. And the teachers would give us a lot of, positive feedback and all of that. But the older we get, the more difficult things actually become. Right? I mean, I can't speak for everyone, but if you were an average student, as long as you put some time in to study, you'd be fine. Right? You'd be fine. Some subjects may be more difficult than others for you, you know, specifically. For me, it was history. I've always struggled with like memorizing dates and names, and I still do. however, now as an adult, I see that I really struggle when things get difficult. It's like, I'm not used to having to put so much effort into something to get a good outcome. I didn't really struggle with things growing up. And now that I'm kind of, I feel like a fish out of water. Like I'm trying to survive and. Get myself out of my comfort zone because I have bigger visions for myself and what I want in life. But it's a lot more difficult now, and not only is it more difficult, it's also kind of just all my doing. Like, no one's forcing me to go down this route. No one's telling me that I need to do this or that. No one really cares. And so, yeah, it's uncomfortable. It's really uncomfortable to try to do something different for yourself, build something more, something better. when you're used to being good at stuff, naturally, being a fast learner and adaptable, when you find yourselves in this situation, it's almost like, Oh, God damn it. I need to put in so much more work than I thought, or like, damn, maybe this isn't for me. Like if I'm struggling this much, maybe I really shouldn't be doing it. Right. Like things were just so much easier when I was doing this. So maybe I should go back to doing that. Not try to step out of my little comfort zone because you know life was okay before Like maybe I was a little less happy or you know I hoped I could make some more money or had better friends, but it wasn't like I was So terribly sad and depressed or whatever, And so now, you're in this position of having to prove to yourself that you can do something more, right? So, I wanna challenge you to really start to praise the amount of work and effort you're putting into something. Don't focus on the outcome. Don't focus on the fact that you finished anything. Focus on the amount of time and effort you put into it. Because if you, for example, if it takes you ten hours to do one thing, that it takes one hour for someone else to do. I'm not saying that you worked harder, or that you were less capable of someone to do that thing. The very fact that you started and did it anyways. Shows how much effort and persistency you have within you to do that thing. Whereas if it was easier for you to do, well, I don't know, maybe it came naturally. But if you're pushing yourself and doing something that's actually difficult, which let's be honest, in this time of age it's easy to do a lot of things, but to do these things well and to continually do it and continually get better, it will take time, it will take persistency, and you're going to struggle. You're going to struggle. Accept it. Accept the fact that You probably suck at the thing that you, maybe a skill that you need to develop in order to get to where you want to be. Accept that you're going to suck and it's going to take a while, but praise yourself for actually going through the steps and actually learning how to do it well and properly. Maybe celebrate your efforts as opposed to celebrating when you finish something, because it's a lot more rewarding if you're working towards something and it takes you, let's say, 20 hours spread out through your week. If you celebrate the little wins of you just putting in more time, learning a different aspect of the thing that you're learning, these are all fantastic. Because if you learned one little specific thing of this entire skill that you're trying to hone, and it took you 5 hours, that's 5 hours of hard, dedicated effort that you put in without someone else telling you that you had to. That takes persistency, and courage, and a shit ton of effort. And you need to be praised for that. So I'm gonna take a moment and say I am so bloody proud of you. I am so proud of you. And you, and you, and you, because there's so many people. There's so many people in the exact same position as you. Remember, you're not alone, and I'm proud of you. Just like I'm proud for my fucking self. Because things are hard now, and no one's there's no deadline. The essays I write now are for you. And if you can find enjoyment, and you can encourage yourself through the process, celebrate your wins and your fails, you will get there eventually. And you will be so happy and proud that you put in those fucking 20 hours to learn this freaking skill that someone is able to do in one hour. Because you finally learned how to do it and guess what? The more you do it now, the better and faster you will become at it. But you need to put in the time now for a period of time and it's going to suck and it will be hard But you need to be so freaking proud of the time that you've already put into it And if you're not proud of the time you've put into it Get to it. So that's it. Just wanted to say that. I am proud of you. And if you're not proud of yourself yet, go fucking do the thing. Do the thing that is difficult for you to do. If it's supposed to take you to where you want to be 10, 20, 30 years down the line, do the thing now! You're just gonna be pushing it farther into the future. And then you're still gonna be struggling, you're still gonna have to go through it. So get through it now. Go, make yourself proud. Put in the work and the effort. Learn that. It'll become so much more fun when you do, right? If you learn how to do this thing and you start to get better and faster at it, you'll be like, Oh shit, yeah, this is actually pretty cool, I can do this now, And celebrate. The effort. Because we have been told too many times. That we're good at anything and everything and that things come easy to us, and you know what? That's not the case all the time. But if that's what we were told growing up, well, we need to work in even more with our headspace and our self concept. Okay, we really do. So go. I'm proud of you. Keep kicking ass, bro. Keep kicking ass.