Working hard for what you've already got

A lot of people might think that once they have achieved or won something, they can keep it without having to try. Now that is true for certain incidences, such as winning a toy at a fete or achieving a set of great exam results. However there are plenty of different scenarios in life for when this isn't true and keeping something you have already worked hard for can be as hard as achieving it in the first place.

When it comes to blogs or vlogs, no one is going to deny how hard it is to gain a large number of followers. It takes a lot of time and effort but the payout is definitely worth it. But does that mean you can just stop working hard when you have achieved one hundred followers, or one thousand followers or even five hundred thousand followers? Nope! Definitely not.

Even though you've already got a substantial backing behind you, you can't rest on your laurels. If you don't continually produce good quality content then your followers will be clicking the unfollow/unsubscribe button; there is nothing worse than following someone who only posts once every few months. Sure, your following may still increase as new people look around your site and like your content but pretty soon people will get bored of the inactivity and you'll slip down on their list of favourite bloggers. To stay at the top, you have to keep up your efforts.

The same goes for relationships. Now, I am by no means saying that you can "get" someone as though they are an object but in terms of winning someone over, that can sometimes involve a lot of hard work and wooing and I think a lot of people think "I've already won her over, I don't need to try anymore". Now that may be true for some people but it couldn't be further from the truth when it comes to describing myself.

I like the whole dating phase of a relationship, where there are butterflies and nervousness about how he/she is going to interpret the last text you sent or whether they are going to like how you look when you go on that date. In other words: I like the wooing stage.

But when you get past that stage and into the land of comfort, why stop trying? Why stop paying your other half compliments or stop giving them massages or stop buying them keepsakes that represent their personality?

Being with someone doesn't give you an excuse to let everything go and stop trying to win their heart because they will soon realise that you aren't the person they fell in love with and that their heart doesn't belong to the current you, but the one who tried to win them over.

It isn't uncommon to wear less makeup or make more blasé comments when you have settled sufficiently into a relationship but beware of slipping too far down this route and acting like your relationship is invincible because it isn't.

Arrogance isn't attractive, so why act cocky in thinking your other half is bound to your side for the rest of their life? The things you do - or rather <em>don't</em> do - can be the end of your relationship. Relationships aren't easy, and one of the biggest killers is not working hard enough to keep what you've already achieved.