{"id":4660,"date":"2025-05-29T10:13:36","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T14:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4660"},"modified":"2025-05-29T10:13:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T14:13:36","slug":"effort-counts-twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/effort-counts-twice\/","title":{"rendered":"Effort Counts Twice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>

Tom Toro draws cartoons for The New Yorker <\/em>magazine, <\/em>long considered the ultimate cartoonists\u2019 showcase.\u00a0

His work springs from his humorous observations concerning the challenges of everyday life, as evidenced by the panel above. \u00a0

But it took a while before he hit the big time.

The New Yorker <\/em>accepted his 610th<\/sup> cartoon.\u00a0Before that, Toro had received 609 rejection letters.\u00a0

This is not unusual in the world of cartoonists.\u00a0The typical rejection rate for major publications is 97%.

That means even for the funniest people doing their best work, only three out of 100 submissions get the thumbs up.\u00a0One artist sent more than 2,000 panels to The New Yorker<\/em> before his first hit. Ironically, he went on to become the magazine\u2019s beloved cartoon editor.\u00a0

All of this raises a compelling question:\u00a0What kind of people can possibly endure a 97% rate of rejection?

According to psychologist and author Angela Duckworth, the answer is people who embody \u201cgrit.\u201d\u00a0

In Grit: The Power and Passion of Perseverance, <\/em>Duckworth describes why some of the world\u2019s most talented men and women fall short of significant achievement, while others who seem to just plug along become the real agents of change.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0

Her conclusion? \u201cTalent is overrated.\u201d\u00a0Our culture is transfixed with talented athletes, talented artists, and talented leaders.\u00a0But what it really takes to succeed is sustained effort over a long time. \u201cGrit\u201d is the ability to keep going, even in the face of failure.\u00a0

Duckworth\u2019s studies led her to concoct a two-part formula.

Everyone affirms the first equation:\u00a0Talent + Effort = Skill<\/strong>.\u00a0Talented people really do have an edge getting out of the gate.\u00a0

But the second equation is the ultimate key to success:\u00a0Skill + Effort = Achievement.<\/strong>

As Duckworth points out, \u201cEffort counts twice.\u201d\u00a0It\u2019s the one thing that appears on the left side of both equations.\u00a0What a previous generation called sticktoitiveness <\/em>is the ability to summon the will to stick with something, even when you want, for all the world, to grab a bag of Doritos, curl up on the couch, and binge watch reruns of Cheers<\/em>.

Angela is a living embodiment of her own formula.\u00a0

Her father used to sigh and say to her, \u201cYou know, you\u2019re no genius.\u201d\u00a0Duckworth grew up believing that \u2013 and she still does.

The irony is that in 2013, because of her ground-breaking research into the field of human achievement, she became a MacArthur Fellow.\u00a0That\u2019s the so-called Genius Award.\u00a0Angela\u2019s father is intensely proud of her great success, which both of them know has primarily come about through sheer grit.\u00a0

There are no verses in the Old or New Testaments that speak directly of \u201cspiritual grittiness.\u201d\u00a0But these rousing words of the apostle Paul come pretty close:

\u201cNot that I\u2026 have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus\u201d<\/em> (Philippians 3:12-14).

More simply: Once you\u2019ve caught a glimpse of God\u2019s call on your life, decide that you will pursue it and never<\/u><\/em> quit<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0

Or as Tom Toro recently put it:\u00a0\u201cIf at first you don\u2019t succeed, try and try and try and try and try and try and try again.\u201d
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here Tom Toro draws cartoons for The New Yorker magazine, long considered the ultimate cartoonists\u2019 showcase.\u00a0 His work springs from his humorous observations concerning the challenges of everyday life, as evidenced by the panel above. \u00a0 But it took a while before he hit the big time. The New Yorker accepted his… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[934,933,10],"class_list":["post-4660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-endurance","tag-grit","tag-perseverance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4662,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4660\/revisions\/4662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}