Don't Discount Anyone's Effort

When you put time and effort into something, you see the value in that right? Even if it didn’t turn out as well as you had hoped. Even if you need to spend extra time redoing what you just did. Well, I ask that you do the same for others and that you don’t discount their effort.

We’re in a culture that is so strongly controlled and driven by external validation that we design our lives around it. For this reason people often go about things without trying their best. Unfortunately this offers a nice and comfortable protection against the criticism of others, but it also holds so many people back from their fullest expression. As people we don’t want to feel like what we have isn’t enough so we fail to even show what we’re capable of. 

I think this problem is made worse by the nature in which we evaluate someone’s work, which is based on the result they generate and not their effort. This is a societal flaw with unbelievable emotional consequences. However, through our action we can help fight it, and help people feel more confident in their abilities by committing to being supportive in more empathetic ways. When people feel like the time and energy they invest in something is valued, and truly valued because they are being seen as a person and not evaluated based on their output, they will be more encouraged to contribute everything they have.

A discount is used to assign less value to something than it’s known to be worth. That’s not fair to anyone, but it’s a natural response given the way society tells us to operate. Don’t discount anyone’s effort and celebrate when people try their best, even if they come up short.