There are billions of people striving to improve the quality of their lives each day. They wake up early, go to work, or hustle by the roadside, make countless sacrifices, etc.
Some people face great hardships each day to make their daily bread but nothing is guaranteed. In most cases, it all amounts to nothing.
EFFORT DOESN'T EQUATE RESULT.
This still happens to be one of the hardest life lessons I have had to learn. I have been in situations where I totally exerted myself into a task but fell short of the result I wanted.
Meanwhile, someone with less skill who puts in less time ends up with better results. Then I begin to question my ability and even the fairness of life. We see this sort of thing play out every day.
Most people's response to life's unfairness is inaction and resentment. Why should anyone do anything when nothing is guaranteed? Why should I try to improve the quality of my life when the odds are against me? The obvious answer is that failure is inevitable when you are docile.
People fail and become resentful. These people resent those who are excelling and even those who nudge them away from failure. Why would anyone think they are not doing enough? Do they understand how difficult life is?
Wake up! You don't need a pat on your back for every time you tried and failed. You don't need people to recognize the effort you're making to better your life. That won't get you anywhere.
It is a brutal world out there. No one cares how much work you put into your life, they only want to see results. No one cares how much time and effort Tesla puts into creating their cars, they just want their cars--functional.
CAN YOU GET THE JOB DONE?
It doesn't matter how many times you fail, or the amount of effort you're willing to exert on a task, the question is: can you get the job done? No one cares about the backstory. Are you competent enough to get the task done?
I judge my actions based on the result I get rather than the effort it took. It keeps my mind focused on the problem--which needs to be solved. I believe when people start thinking this way about the challenges in their lives they tend to achieve better results.
In an idealistic world, good things happen to those who try. However, in the real world, things only happen if you want it to and that involves exerting yourself on a task; it involves finding better ways of doing things; it involves learning from your mistakes and never giving up.
So what's it going to be, RESULT or RECOGNITION?