Make an Effort

If there is something in your life that you want to change, something in your life that you are unhappy about or somewhere in the world that you want to make a difference, you need to make an effort. Often times I will say that I want to donate to the Chicago Food Bank or to somehow donate my time or effort to a worthy cause, but up to this point in my life I have done very little. As the old saying goes, “Talk is cheap”.

As part of playing life full-out, I realized that I would like to make a difference for the world-at-large, and in the course of making a difference I need to be the one that makes an effort. Nobody is going to do it for me, and even if I am presented with an opportunity, I still need to make the effort to participate.

While having Thanksgiving with my family, I started collecting coats for the homeless, so I decided to set a goal for myself to collect 50 coats by December 22nd. If I need to go pickup coats from my friends, I will do that. I want to make a difference by collecting unused coats and getting them to people in need, so I need to make the effort and make it as easy as possible for people to give me their coats. It isn’t that they they want to keep these extra coats for themselves, but rather they simply aren’t motivated to make the effort to donate their coats.

This idea of “making an effort” holds true for all parts of life. If you want a new job or want to get started changing something in your life, you need to make an effort. You can sit around and wish that you had more money - or you can do what needs to be done in order for you to get more money. I could list a thousand areas of life where there is a lack of effort, but if you make a little list, I’m sure that several key areas will pop into your mind right away.