Why bother?
Why bother to work hard when no one is watching? Why bother to eat broccoli? Why bother doing the reading? Why bother to stop at a red light? Why bother to write a blog that no one (except very smart and good-looking people like YOU) reads?
Why bother to do anything if the cost exceeds the reward?
It was the defining question during most of my K-12 education. Penmanship. Why bother? The periodic table. Why bother? Running wind sprints in the summer. For what? Even if I overcame my natural laziness, the lack of meaningful outcomes throughout my early years of schooling only served to encourage this 'why bother' mental dialogue anytime I was presented with something unpleasant to do.
My freshman football coach made the best counter-argument possible before our second game. His thought changed my outlook and defined my approach through high school and beyond.
Why bother to play hard in a football game? Football games, he said, come down to four or five plays. The outcomes of these plays determine the winner of the game. The reason why good teams play hard on every play is because no one knows at the start of any play if this is the one that will end up, in hindsight, among those five.
