Why the effort

Recently I begin to wonder why do we have to put in effort for things, why do people have the drive to achieve excellence, and that will can be so strong sometimes, but no one knows where it comes from? Is it merely a survival instinct? I think there's more to that. Even if you don't do so well, you can still have a decent life. Why do some people want to over exert themselves so much?

I can never see the value in repeated practice to perform a simple task well. If the task is complex it may still be worth it because it's more like you master a skill. However doing the same simple thing over and over again bores the hell out of me. That may be the reason why I hate sport, especially running, so much.

They say that if you want to be expert at something, you must practise it for at least 100 hours (or something like that). For me, the degree of tolerance really depends on the nature of the subject of practice. I still cannot understand individuals who practice the same thing over and over again for the sake of being proficient in it. That may be a good drive at the start, but I feel that such passion won't last long. This is just like people who practise the same type of questions over and over again for the exams, such that when similar questions come out they can just close their eyes and do them. I feel that they are doing it for the wrong reasons. Sure, you can achieve better mark in the exam, but what does that mark mean? What is it that they see in that number, that makes them work so hard unnecessarily? To me, if you have no genuine interest and appreciation in what you are putting effort for but you put in effort merely to achieve that desired standard, then I would say the effort is put in vain.

To do well for something, I feel that the most important thing is still appreciation. Appreciation in what you do. There is nobody in the top of their profession who doesn't appreciate what they are doing. They must see the value of their actions, then they will feel that the effort they put in is for a good cause. You must see the big picture first, or life will just be a repeating race of task completion that has no meaning assigned, and hence no satisfaction can be gained from the effort you put in.

So maybe I'll amend my view. Maybe it's good to push yourself forward sometimes, as long as it's for the right reasons. However it will be unreasonable to exert yourself too much. There are more things to life than just to pursue your interests. Pursuing your dream is a wonderful thing, it gives you the big kind of happiness in your life. But small happiness in life also matters. Listening to a nice piece of music, drinking your favourite beverage, enjoying a nice picnic in a breezy afternoon, ice cream, chocolate...sorry I'm getting distracted. Anyway, these sensual fulfillment can also be a small form of satisfaction.

There's still a kind of happiness you can get, and that will be from interpersonal relationships. Friendship, kinship, love relationships, and so on. Sometimes you may, strangely, derive the greatest satisfaction of life from these. However, this has been a problematic area for me, since I'm not good with people, and I find that people relations are too complex to handle and they may become troublesome if handled inappropriately. As such, I tend to value solitude over company. I know I may be missing things, but it's alright, I still have a long time in life to learn and approach people. Quality is over quantity, so I would rather have a few very close people, than a large group of acquaintance whom I do not know well.

Anyway how do I even go from putting in effort to people relations. My main point for this post is actually how we can balance hard work with enjoyment of life. We know that our time is finite, so we can't possibly dedicate all our time to our career/interest and leave no time for enjoyment of life, unless all your joy in life is entirely derived from your interest which is a bit sad. It's okay to relax once a while, but you must have a general direction of your life in mind so you will not want to slack too much because you know there are many exciting things waiting to be done.