Maybe you’ve just been rejected, or your startup has failed. Whatever it is that you’ve been trying to accomplish, you could be close to achieving it if you only did one thing.

Nothing worth having comes easy is a famous saying by the American statesman, politician, conservationist, naturalist, writer, and 26th U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. This saying has been true for ages and continues to be true today.

I have not seen anyone accomplish anything phenomenal without putting in the required amount of work to make that happen. Today, we tend to give up easily. We hear one “No,” and we conclude that we are doomed. We give up.

A successful man from Nigeria once told me a story. He said that when he looked at all the great things that he has accomplished, he realized that he had to try at least three times to get that or break some convention/rule or step one someone’s toes to get that. The man is an accomplished Doctor with a few patents to his name. He studied outside Nigeria, but before he got there, his scholarship was canceled three times, and he had to reply three times for the scholarship, apply two times in 2 years for admission and wait several months for his visa to be approved.

This man is successful because he put in the work. He did not give up. He worked hard and continues to work hard every day to become a better person.

I wish we will learn from his story and want something so badly that we stay up at night researching, writing, studying, applying, or just getting shit done.

Work needs to be done. We need to do the work to get anywhere meaningful. We need to get shit done. We need grit.