Nov. 22, 2024
Read time: 3 minutes and 22 seconds.
tags:We often complain when things get tough, constantly seeking the path of least resistance. However, the most rewarding experiences usually come from overcoming challenges. Embracing difficulty is not about making life harder, but about choosing the right kind of hard.
It’s human nature to want an easy life. Life is supposed to be hard, but depending on what you’re actually spending your time doing, you choose the hard things you want to do. Instead of avoiding challenges, we should focus on building our ability to adapt and overcome. Especially since resilience is a natural part of development. We are adverse to change, but those who embrace it the most and handle these challenges in any given circumstance have the opportunity to develop themselves the most, and have the potential to increase their value. I’ve mentioned it previously, but facing hardship is an invaluable skill, more when you’re able to overcome it and avoid being defeatist. It often makes me think of this fight club clip that illustrates being resilient in adversity:
Think about your proudest moments. Chances are, they weren’t handed to you on a silver platter. I can almost bet the moments you are the proudest of were earned, not given. We rarely have things given to us and feel a sense of satisfaction. We more probably feel “deserving”, but satisfaction hits different when it’s something you have earned.
And it’s not really about talking about how awesome I am or feel or anything remotely close. This is about how our mind digests achievement and it’s directly correlated with the effort we put into the work. There’s a term for this which I’ve mentioned in previous blogs; deliberate practice.
This isn’t about reckless gambling; it’s about believing in your capacity to grow and overcome. It’s something I’ve repeated to my students, and the more we believe in ourselves, the more we can actually realize the goals we aspire to achieve. If we doubt our ability, then we won’t be able to make our dreams come true. Abraham Lincoln failed at business 27 times. To get elected as a senator took him 6 consecutive failures. If he gave up at the first sign of hardship, God only knows where we would be today. It’s not about being the next Abraham Lincoln, but instead applying the same pracies that made him great.
Life is inherently challenging, but it’s through facing these challenges head-on that we find meaning and fulfillment. Choose to do the hard things, not for the sake of difficulty, but for the person you’ll become in the process. The challenges in my life pushed me to do more and adopt the skills I needed to be the person I want to be. I failed at running an agency because I could solve most business problems except my own. I couldn’t sell until I made it a key axiom of my growth. Now, the same way I have sold myself to getting the jobs I want I have been able to sell business. Being clear about what I need from myself and clients alike has made my career path much clearer. I encourage others to adopt the same habits. Not to be a master of the world, but to begin mastering ones’ own interests and ultimately ones’ self.