the calculation

I came up with this one during a chat with one of my oldest friends the other day. He and I were discussing how we all have expectations for our lives and how we envision things going and the desired outcomes. There are certain things we think we should do/be/achieve/accomplish because of a mental calculation we do when trying to plan out our lives. It goes something like this:

(Knowledge + Skills) X Effort = Accomplishment or Outcome

Mathematically, it makes sense. You take all your knowledge and stills and multiply it by your efforts and then you have your accomplishment or outcome if you will. I think I'm pretty knowledgeable, and I was raised to pretty much believe I have the skills and capacity to do almost anything. But it's the effort part of the equation that frustrates me because it's the area where I lag the most. And if you look at the equation, it shows, a small amount of effort will not help bring about a very big accomplishment. Simple algebra. It also shows me that if I take an accomplishment or outcome and see that I haven't gotten there, it's usually my effort that is keeping me back. It is my own darn fault. Then I (we) beat myself (ourselves) up because it's so true that many of the things I've (We've) wanted to do or achieve were only halted by my (our) own lack of effort. I don't think I'm particularly lazy or good for nothing, but there is definitely a lot more I could have achieved in my life. Sometimes I unwittingly try to put too much emphasis on the other part of the equation, my knowledge and skills, (I've got too much smartness for my own good). But I think there is a good lesson to be learned that it takes all three, especially effort, to bring about any outcome. At least that's what I learned anyway.

Shawn Johnson-someone who achieved a lot in her life