Category: Doing What’s Hard

My team and I completed the 10k, 20 obstacle, mud run today.

…The one everybody was in their feels about yesterday—unsure of how to act as they moved slowly towards that place that’s outside of the ol’ comfort zone.

…But, move forward they did. No back outs; no bad energy; no hesitations. Everybody did their best and many… beat their previous bests.

Old ideas of what their perceived limits were—were smashed; new limits were reached; and many of them left with something they’ll hold onto for life.

Here are some of the things that were shared in our group chat after the run:

• “I had no idea our bodies + brains could do so much…”
• “This was definitely an amazing memory and experience…”
• “Something I will never forget…”
• “A Tough Mudder was not something I ever though of doing & I did originally come up with all the reasons not to, but figured I had nothing to lose by trying. Thanks everyone for making this such an amazing experience!”

Some questions for you, dear reader, to reflect on: when’s the last time you challenged one of your perceived limits? As in, actively tried to do something that you’re pretty sure you “can’t” do…? Maybe it’s time to get something into your calendar you can train for…? Maybe it’s time to team up with a group of people who are heading in that direction…?

…Maybe it’s time to try?

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P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.

This past weekend I went out to lunch with a co-worker and an elderly women.

At one point in the conversation, the elderly women mentioned how at one point in her life she played piano. She said she loved it but was never able to perform at a recital. She would get too nervous and overwhelmed and would back down—sometimes at the last minute.

The thought that immediately occurred to me was… maybe it was because it was too big of a jump. Maybe if there were smaller, more incremental steps that went from private 1-on-1 lessons to big audience in an auditorium—like family recitals or small party with friends recitals or piano student classroom recitals—she wouldn’t have had such a hard time…

She nodded and seemed to agree with the idea.

When we’re confronted with a situation that makes us nervous or feel overwhelmed, it isn’t a sign that we’re not meant to do that thing or that we aren’t good enough per se. Oftentimes it’s just a sign that we’re taking too big of a step too quick—and all we need to do is take a step back and find (or create) the incremental steps that’ll make that big step feel far more manageable.

Just as we take the steps up onto the stage for a piano recital and don’t try to climb atop the stage in one fell swoop—so, too, must we follow this wisdom with the “piano recitals” of our lives themselves.

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P.s. Thanks to those who caught my “waive” that should’ve been “wave” typo from a few days ago. It was a silly mistake… Or was it a sign?

Today, a friend and I ran 4 miles.

At the end, she reported that we averaged 8:50ish per mile and said, “Anything sub 9 is good.”

I didn’t say it then, but after thinking about it, I’d like to say next time, “Anything done is good.”

Put too much pressure on “sub 9” and you might skip runs altogether when sore or exhausted.

Better to let done be the primary metric you track and allow room for grace when it’s needed.

Because often… grace is needed. And those who can give it are the ones who truly stay on track.

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P.s. If staying consistent with positive habits is hard for you (like exercising regularly), stay tuned. My NEW guide is in its final stages of completion…!

Writing every day is hard.

Not knowing what I think and living without clarity is hard.

One of them leads to far more difficulty and challenge than the other.

There is no easy-only option… only hard now and compounded hard later.

Understanding this is what fuels me to keep filling up these blank pages with words.

And understanding this might fuel you to reconsider some of the hard now options in your life, too.

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P.s. Here are some of the other reasons why I write every day (and have for 1,200+ days).

A student of mine returned to martial arts class yesterday after having suffered from a rough few days of food poisoning.

Having been there, I know that coming back from this is no joke.

After the class concluded, he pulled me to the side and made a comment that I thought was worth sharing.

He said, “When I came to the school, I was at a 2 [out of 10]. I was texting my wife telling her how rough I felt and how I didn’t think I’d make it to class. After an hour or two I felt more like a 3. By the time class came around, I felt like a 4. Once I was in class I was a 5. And when it was over, I was a solid 6 or 7.”

I’ve written about this before and this is no small insight.

The byproduct of doing hard things is feeling better—a bump up on the feeling scale closer to “10.” Avoiding the hard things (or succumbing to excuses like, “I’ll do it when I’m a 10”), leaves you feeling worse or, best case, keeps you sulking at the number you started at.

Don’t get it twisted: we don’t do hard things when we’re at a 10—we do hard things to get to a 10 (or at least closer to it).

It would be easy for me to head over to ChatGPT, GPT-4, or Bard and ask this A.I. assistant to write a blog post for me using all of the past 1,200+ articles I’ve written as context.

And I’m sure it’d be pretty damn good, too.

But, getting an instant article based on all of my past writings isn’t the point.

The point is to sweat. To reflect. To poke around. To prod. To sigh. To grunt. To take a stab. To bleed.

The point is to play the game. Not have a game simulated at the speed of light leaving you only with the final score.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a ton of exciting tasks that A.I. can do that’ll save us a ton of time.

But creative pursuits, shouldn’t be one of them.

More time to be able to spend in creative pursuits should be the most exciting prospect of the utility and application of A.I.

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Question: have you utilized A.I. chatbots in a way that saved you a ton of time in your life yet? If so, how?