Effort Counts Twice

I recently reread the book Grit by Angela Duckworth and was reminded of one of my favorite quotes: “For all that talent counts, effort counts twice.”

Duckworth explains achievement this way:

Talent × Effort = Skill

Skill × Effort = Achievement

Talent determines how quickly you pick up a skill. Then effort is what it takes to sharpen that skill. When you apply effort to the skill you’ve developed, it leads to achievement. Someone who is less naturally talented may need more effort to master a skill and then apply it, but great achievement is still possible.

I began my career as a math teacher in Sacramento. Math can be a difficult subject for people to master. What I told my students is, math just takes more work—but you can do it. Angela Duckworth simply put it in a way that anyone can understand: effort counts twice.

When I was ten years old and just beginning my football career, one of my coaches, Coach Anderson, said something to me that has stayed with me for more than forty years. In a conversation he said, “When I ask for receivers, everyone on the team gets in line. When I ask for a lineman, you’re the only one who steps up.” That compliment still resonates today. It drove me to take the less glamorous assignments and try to do more with them. I grew up in a place where people had to work hard for everything they achieved in life. That was important for me because I never felt entitled to an easy path. I knew I would have to earn it.

In many ways, that meant taking the route others wouldn’t. But thanks to Coach Anderson, there has always been a voice in the back of my mind reminding me that someone notices. Sometimes that is all the fuel a person needs.

So what does that mean in 2026? Everything we do requires effort. The more effort we are willing to give to something, the more we are able to achieve. As kids we learned that the more we practiced the drums, the better musician we became. The same was true with basketball, singing, solving a Rubik’s Cube, or anything else. That lesson applies at work and in school. Success is closely related to the amount of effort we commit. As a coach, you see players develop over the years. The ones who work the hardest tend to emerge. The ones who don’t usually don’t.

My youngest daughter experienced frustration with math because it didn’t come easily to her. Being a math teacher, I worked through the process with her. Improvement came down to putting in the time, which we did together. She improved. From that point on, whenever she became frustrated with something, I could point back to the time she invested in getting better at math. She didn’t always love hearing that, but today she acknowledges that it was true.

To be successful, you don’t have to be exceptionally talented or intellectually gifted—you just have to be willing to work. Coach Tim Notke has a quote that has appeared in locker rooms across the country: “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”

Most of us are not super talented or intellectually gifted. We’re somewhere around the middle of the curve. Jim Sweeney, the former Fresno State football coach, used to say that the world is full of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. He meant it as encouragement—to remind us that effort can elevate ordinary people to extraordinary outcomes. It’s often said that faith without work is dead. I’d add this: joyful work is easier. It’s important to find something you enjoy and commit time to getting better at it.

Earning a raise, getting a promotion, losing weight, quitting smoking, becoming a better partner or parent—it all takes effort. The willingness to put in the work demonstrates that it matters to you. Time invested will produce results if you stay with it.

Your effort counts more than your talk.

Your effort counts more than your dream.

Your effort counts more than your plan. Your effort is everything.

Here in Lone Pine, we have a group of students who are willing to put in the effort to improve. When they are placed in a position to succeed and given the support they need, they do succeed. We have a community that helps create the conditions for our students and staff to thrive.

Our district leadership and School Board remain focused on moving our schools to a place where high achievement is expected. Through academics, athletics, and extracurricular activities, we are working to engage students and inspire the best in each of them. The results of their effort are the ultimate reward.

As Angela Duckworth reminds us, success takes time. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t wake up tomorrow having mastered your craft. Be patient. Grit is about hard work over time. If you measured your progress day to day while trying to lose weight, you might become discouraged. But if you stick with it, the results will come.

In the end, effort is the one thing every person controls. Talent is a gift, opportunity can come and go, but effort belongs entirely to you. In Lone Pine, we believe in showing up, doing the work, and getting a little better each day. Our students are learning that success is not reserved for the most gifted—it belongs to the ones who refuse to quit. So keep showing up. Keep putting in the work. Because in the long run, the people who win are almost always the ones who simply decided not to stop trying.

Effort counts twice.

We are always looking for great people, give us a look. Lone Pine Unified Job Portal

William A. Brown, Superintendent/Principal

Lone Pine Unified School District