The weakest soul, knowing its own weakness, and believing this truth that strength can only be developed by effort and practice, will, thus believing, at once begin to exert itself, and, adding effort to effort, patience to patience, and strength to strength, will never cease to develop, and will at last grow divinely strong.”
Strength Is Developed
Being weak at something does not mean you have to remain weak. In fact, recognizing your weakness may be the first step toward becoming stronger. You cannot work on something that you refuse to acknowledge. Once you can honestly say, “This is an area where I need to improve,” you have given yourself somewhere to begin.
Strength is developed through effort and practice. We understand this when it comes to our bodies. If you cannot lift a certain weight today, you don’t automatically assume that you will never be able to lift it. You train. You start with what you can handle, practice the movement, recover, and come back again. Eventually, what was once difficult becomes easier because your body has adapted to the work.
Why wouldn’t we expect the same process from ourselves in other areas?
If you struggle with discipline, practice discipline. If you struggle with patience, practice patience. If you have difficulty staying consistent with your health, start practicing consistency. You may not get it right every time, but every attempt gives you another opportunity to develop.
This is where Allen’s idea of adding effort to effort, patience to patience, and strength to strength becomes important. Growth is not always one giant transformation. Sometimes it is one small effort placed on top of another. One workout followed by another. One healthier decision followed by another. One day of refusing to quit followed by another.
Eventually, those individual efforts begin to add up.
You don’t need to become the strongest version of yourself today. You need to continue developing. Give yourself the patience to grow while still requiring yourself to put forth the effort.
Strength is built. Effort by effort. Practice by practice. Day by day. What feels like a weakness today does not have to remain your weakness tomorrow.