Effortless is a Myth

I just watched Roger Federer's commencement address at Dartmouth College.

It's a great speech from one of the greatest athletes of all time.

He offers some top lessons of wisdom, none of which are more important than - "Effortless is a Myth".

When talking about his career he said - "People would say my play was effortless. Most of the time, they meant it as a compliment. But it used to frustrate me when they would say, 'He barely broke a sweat', or, 'Is he even trying?'."

And he's right.

In society, not just sport, we laud talent. We love to celebrated the 'gifted and talented' or the 'natural born genius'.

Those who have to work and struggle to reach the top are seen as too 'try-hard'. A lot of people don't like the 'ugliness' of the scrappy underdog.

But this is a huge misconception.

Because most peak performers praised for their supposed talent and natural abilities, actually became 'beautiful' after years of 'ugly'.

They collided with the cones they were trying to avoid thousands of times.

They shanked thousands of shots meant for a goal, hole, or net.

They repeatedly missed goal times or distances, despite 100% efforts.

Federer was, by his own admission, the same.

Labels of 'effortless' only get applied after years of 'effortful'.

I.e. thousands of hours of full effort. A huge portion of which are done in the shadows.

Those sessions where getting it wrong 100 times is necessary, so that you can get it right on the days when the cameras are on.

Or those solo workouts that make you want to throw up, but come the real-thing, it looks like you're hardly breaking a sweat.

Take pride in your efforts.

They are the only thing that prepare you for those moments where well-intentioned spectators falsely attribute your success to the 'effortless myth'.

Tell people to shove claims of 'talent' up their you know what.

Effort is everything. Don't let others convince you otherwise.

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