There is a saying that "hard work pays" Sometimes I question myself, Does hard work really pay?" You might ask me why I would ask such a question. Well, there have been some encounters that have made me ask the question.
Some time ago, while I was at the university, I remember having a friend named Mark who was preparing for an essay competition. I remember how we took turns to help him prepare for the competition. We all expected that he would be among the top three in the competition.
All of our lecturers were happy with the efforts that we all put in to assist our friend. Well, I wasn't worried because I knew he was brilliant and was one of the best students at the University.
The day of the competition was here, and we were all optimistic. The competition was to begin at noon. By 10 a.m., we were off to the venue of the competition.Mark's phone rang, and he answered; his countenance changed. I noticed it and asked him, "What is the problem?" He replied "I have just been informed that my parents have just been involved in a car accident" I could not believe what I just heard.
I asked him if he wanted us to head back home and inform the organizers about what had happened, and he insisted that he would take part in the competition.
We got to the venue, and Mark came out 10th out of 30 contestants. I could see the disappointment in his eyes. I told him not to worry because I understood the circumstances that led to his performance.
When we got back to the school, everyone felt disappointed and thought they were their chicks before the egg hatched.
We informed them about what had happened, and they all understood and believed that if not for the circumstances that arose, Mark would have performed well.
I remember a time when my school team had a soccer match with a team that had been training for months.
We just selected some players on the day of the match without training together. We just wanted to honor the invitation for the game.
On the day we wanted to travel for the match, we all joked that we were going to be defeated by a wide margin.
There was a disagreement between our coach and his assistant on the team that will be selected for the match.
I remember telling a teammate that this match would be our worst match as a team.
But to our greatest surprise, we defeated our opponents. We still don't know how it happened, but I just know that the result was way better than the efforts we put into our preparations for the game. I feel that there was an event that occurred that was to our advantage.
I believe that sometimes our results don't reflect the efforts we have put into preparation. Circumstances might arise that are to our disadvantage or sometimes to our advantage, and this will affect the outcome.
Over time, I have learned that efforts might not necessarily reflect in the result.