You know what hurts more than doing that painful thing now?
Doing that painful thing later.
It’ll be the same painful thing, but add to it all of the painful thinking between now and then and stack it all on your shoulders?
Yeah, I don’t know who needs to hear this, but just do that painful thing now.
Your shoulders could do without all of that extra weight.
…Do the hard thing now.
Doing the easy thing now usually results in more burden for your future self.
Step 1) Force the first 10-20 minutes—because starting almost never comes easily. This entails: silencing my phone, wearing noise-cancelling headphones, and resolving to sit and stare until I get bored (and frustrated) enough to start. No phone-checking, tab-opening, house wandering, etc. Just me, my thoughts, and the medium through which I need to do my work. It’s uncomfortable, my mind begs for distractions, and it’s definitely forced.
Step 2) Flow for the next 1-2 hours—because once I surrender to the work, the momentum tends to take care of itself. This happens for me when I read, write, teach, train, and even talk with people. Once I enter this state, time tends to fade away. It’s completely absorbed, unconscious, deliberate and pointed—work. And it’s where most good, deep work gets done. But, until you force that first 10-20 minutes, this flow state will essentially be unaccessible.
Work hard to become your best.
Become your best so you can give your best.
Give your best so you can bring out the best in others.
And when you bring out the best in others you’ll want to keep working hard.
The work of living your best life is to set higher standards and then not compromise them.
Higher standards than who? Compared to what?
Compared to the standards you might hold yourself to when living your worst or mediocre life.
When you commit to a higher standard, you’re committing to a harder path.
And why would you want to do that?
Not because taking hard paths is fun, but because taking hard paths is meaningful.
And meaning is, ultimately, what most of us are after.
You don’t hear people asking: “What’s the fun of life?”
People ask: “What’s the meaning of life?”
And while I don’t think there’s a universal explicit answer to this question, what I do know is that always doing what’s easy won’t lead you there.
Doing what’s hard (more likely) will.
So long as it’s hard work that’s meaningful to you. Work that’s aligned with your priorities, strengths, aptitudes, and interests. Work that’s reflective of your higher standards.
This isn’t to say you can’t update and revise your standards as you grow, change, and mature.
It’s merely to say if you give yourself an easier option, that’s the one you’ll ultimately take.
Don’t allow yourself to fall into that trap. Set your standards and hold yourself to them.
Compromise at your own risk.
When the answers are given to you, the challenge of solving the questions is taken.
When money is given to you, the test of figuring out how to make it for yourself is taken.
When a privileged path to success is given to you, exploring/wandering/getting lost is taken.
Those who get it easy don’t get the depth that comes from overcoming the hard.
Most of us wish everything was just given to us. But, forget what gets taken as a result.