This project is a creative treatment of an actuality. The actuality is "life", and the efforts that man exerts toward making his life more enjoyable. Thus, this project begins with the birth of an individual and shows his growth stages from a self-centered child to the first socializing processes and continues through life's challenges. This process is depicted by the visual and auditory media of 16mm film. The relevant application of the mind, body and spirit is the intent of this film. The writings of the philosopher Plato have served as the foundation for this concept as Plato expressed mind, body and spirit in his republic, "The Contribution of Music and Gymnastics", therefore showing how our experiences of things in life, whether conscious or unconscious, contribute to the universal yet individually defined goal labeled happiness. The foundation for this concept of happiness must first establish a reference point with which all people can identify. The best man is that man who most tries to perfect himself, thereby becoming the happiest man because he feels that he is perfecting himself, no matter what he does. More specifically the intent is to show an experience in life called gymnastics and how it is able to contribute to a means to an end in life, happiness. The condensing of two months of a gymnast's life into five minutes of film for the purpose of giving potential gymnasts a more exciting and condensed look into "The Joy of Effort" represents the message of this film.