“Effort without awareness becomes friction. Eff-it without reflection becomes avoidance.”
Hey Rollers,
EFFORT
(pronounced “ef-fort”)
Conscious exertion of power or energy; hard, intentional work.
A serious attempt; try.
EFF-IT
(pronounced “fuck it”)
Conscious refusal to exert power or energy; why bother.
No attempt at all; too hard, too late, too much.
One is about leaning in, the other is about leaning out. And both live just a few seconds apart.
We all like to believe we live mostly on the “effort” side – consistent, committed, doing the work. But if we’re honest, we all have our eff-it moments too.
Moments where we lose steam, question the point, or quietly wonder, why bother?
We usually see those as signs of weakness, but I’ve come to believe they’re actually signals. Moments worth paying attention to.
Take James Dyson.
Before he built the vacuum that made him a billionaire, he built 5,126 failed prototypes. Five thousand one hundred and twenty-six times he could have said, “Eff-it, this isn’t worth it.”.
But he didn’t.
He didn’t blindly push harder either, and that’s the important part. Pushing harder wasn’t going to be the answer. Pausing and then choosing to push again, differently, was.
Each failure was a learning, it was feedback that made him better.
He adjusted, refined, and redirected his energy with intention.
He didn’t force the work; he listened to it.
That, to me, is the real difference between effort and eff-it.
Effort without awareness becomes friction – you push harder and harder, but nothing moves. Eff-it without reflection becomes avoidance – you stop trying before you’ve learned what the moment was there to teach you.
The sweet spot, the Smart Toughness zone, is in between. It’s the pause between pushing and quitting. It’s the moment where you stop, breathe, and ask yourself a simple question:
What is this moment trying to tell me?
Am I tired? Maybe I need rest. Am I stuck? Maybe I need help. Am I bored? Maybe I need a new challenge. Am I scared? Maybe I need courage more than comfort.
When you start to see your eff-it moments as signals instead of weakness to overcome, everything changes. You stop white-knuckling your way through life and start responding with intelligence.
So, the next time you hit a wall, don’t push harder just for the sake of it. And don’t walk away too soon either.
Pause. Listen. Recalibrate. Because the difference between effort and eff-it isn’t strength, it’s simple awareness.
Until next week.
Keep rolling.
Justin 👊
Take Action in 3 Minutes:
When you feel an eff-it moment coming this week, don’t react. Reflect.
Ask yourself:
👉 What’s this moment really telling me?
- If it’s fatigue, rest.
- If it’s friction, simplify.
-
If it’s fear, take one small step anyway.
Your eff-it moments aren’t enemies.
They’re reminders to redirect your energy toward what actually matters.