How well do these Engineer tips fit your thinking about effort?
Never:  Never use it: 
Try:  Might try it.
Use:  Use it as needed
Tell: Tell it to people who need it

The harder I work, the luckier I get.

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there

Thinkerers never don’t know what to do.

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

You can never get all your squirrels up the same tree.

For some things, practice is better than wishing.

You learn about tools from using them.

If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well enough to meet your goal.

There is no such thing as abstract action.