We want the outcome but we don’t want to do the work…

A short observation from the Olympic games.

While watching the Olympic games in Paris, I realized how often we want the results, but we don’t want to see the effort that leads to them.

Look at any of the athletes in the Olympics.

Each athlete had to be good enough at the country-level competition to get the Olympic qualification. Each spends (without exaggeration) probably thousands of hours on training. They cared about nutrition and recovery. Made hundreds of sacrifices while spending many months during the year far away from home and families on competition and preparation.

They chose this sort of lifestyle. Committed to it with 100% dedication, and now after four years of preparation have their “5 minutes”.

I can bet I’m not the only one who watched them and thought:

“Wow, it must be cool to be there”. Is it…?

Would I spend years mastering my profession — without any guarantee of success? Would I sacrifice months of my life for further uncertain outcomes? Would I be dedicated enough to train so hard for many months before the Olympics? Would I keep going while struggling with injuries and obstacles? Would I like to deal with the pressure and expectation of being a representative of my country?

The truth is I would not.