full effort

Yesterday, I managed to squeeze out of office to go for my weekly squash sessions. It's a wonderful feeling knowing that I can go out there and play my favourite sport pitching my skills against someone better and to hopefully learning a new thing or two to improve my game. 

Half way through one of my matches, the resident coach there who coaches the state junior team looks at me and says, "you are very hardworking in the court!". I tried to laugh under all the panting I was doing and replied while puffing, "I guess when you are short on talent, you just need to rely on fitness to rough it out."

It was the same thing when I was training during my junior days, always trying to outlast my opponent and just keep on running until I ran my opponent with sheer tenacity. Until, eventually one day my knee gave some time before I hit the age of 21 putting my squash to a rendering hiatus for the next three years. But then again, I never really had a successful squash career since I had probably had more losses than wins at that time. 

Not winning isn't nice especially when you are competing against someone. What's the point in playing a game when you have absolutely no intention to win? Winning gives you a undeniable gratifying sensation in you heart but it is also something that doesn't happen all the time (i.e. you will lose too at times). But just because you lose doesn't give you a reason to stop playing the game. I have lost plenty of squash matches but I am still playing the game because I really love the game. 

But allow me to quote Gandhi (yes, the Mahatma Gandhi), "Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory.". 

That is one quote that strikes a key to the very dot in me for there is so much truth in it. As much as winning is a nice feeling but there are times when the results become insignificant when compared against the effort put into the game. There are some matches that I play and lose but still feel satisfied knowing I had a good game, going all out trying to score good points. 


You've got to go at something knowing that you tried and put in effort into it. If you feel you can't jump, you hop. If you think you can't run, you walk. If you think you can't walk, you crawl. Either way, you'll soon realise that you will eventually reach your ultimate destination, your goal albeit maybe slower but you will still reach there. Most importantly, you will feel an extremely gratifying feeling knowing that you put in full effort.... because with full effort, you not only beat your opponent but most importantly, you beat the demon inside of you constantly trying to demotivate and put you down.....