“Far and away the best prize life has to offer is working hard at work worth doing.”?—Theodore Roosevelt

My chance to contribute to a segment on Anderson Cooper’s new talk show recently fell through. To make matters worse, I had a book proposal rejected by a third publisher. And a good friend of mine lost her bid to be elected to public office. Every day, people around the world feel the sting of disappointment when things don’t work out as planned.

The fact is, whenever we take on lofty goals we are at risk of not achieving them. Too often, though, when our efforts fail to produce what we’ve worked hard for, we focus on the failure. We think about what we missed. We talk about our “wasted effort,” implying that because we did not achieve the goals we set out to achieve—whether a business contract we worked hard to secure or a promotion that went to someone else despite hours of overtime—our efforts were of no value.

Purposeful Effort Is Rarely Wasted

We do ourselves a disservice when we approach hard work begrudgingly. There is little in life more rewarding than working hard at work worth doing, regardless of whether we always produce the result we want.

Working hard toward a goal or vision that inspires you, regardless of the outcome, always holds intrinsic value. What matters far more than what you get from your hard work and effort is who you get to become because of it. My friend who lost the election echoed this sentiment to a group of supporters gathered in my home. She shared her gratitude for the rewarding experience of simply running for office and her appreciation for the opportunity to meet so many people, of all political persuasions and across all walks of life. Yes she worked hard. Very hard. Knocking-on-20,000-doors hard. But she also drew enormous pleasure from the work.

It is only human to feel disappointment when you don’t achieve something for which you have strived. But your effort is never wasted. Working hard toward something that fills you with purpose and passion is always work worth doing—whether it be fulfilling a long held dream, building a business, or (as in my case) writing a book to help people be more courageous in their working lives.

Hard Work Has Intrinsic Value

For many people, the word “work” has come to symbolize something to be avoided as much as possible. They approach hard work begrudgingly. But there is value in work. Not just for the money you can earn, but for the person you get to become through your endeavor. Hard work draws out talents and capacities that may otherwise lay dormant. As Pope Paul VI once said, “The striving and hard work that we so constantly try to avoid is the major building block in the person we are today.”

I don’t know what challenges you face right now, but I bet that successfully meeting them will require some hard work. Work isn’t always fun. Sometimes it can be a grind, but that does not diminish its intrinsic value.

So let me ask you, where do you need to work harder at work worth doing? Whether it’s the inner work of transforming the way you are living your life, or the outer “roll up your sleeves and set the alarm early” work of your career, always keep in mind that nothing worth doing has ever been done without good old fashioned hard work. Period.

I invite you to recommit yourself to living a life that honors the best of who you are—and who have yet to become. Do the necessary work. After all, in the end it’s never about the final destination, it’s about the spirit in which you pursue the journey.

Journey on.