I’ve been thinking a lot about doing things that are hard things lately. Over the past decade+, I’ve been on a journey from being an entrepreneur (which was hard but fun), to taking a career sabbatical (which was fun but hard for someone who really likes work) to my current role as a corporate executive (which is mostly hard and a little fun – so far).
While everyone has a set of things they find hard, the following seem to ring true as the causes for things being hard. People may …
- Lack the capability (don’t have the skills)
- Lack of experience (don’t have mental model)
- Lack of practice (haven’t built the muscle)
- Things are too ambiguous (no goalposts)
- Lack of drive (no passion or desire)
- Lack of perspective (no understanding of why)
- ….
When encountering hard things, I find shifting my mindset works well to reduce the stress (of which there is plenty!). This looks something like:
- I love hard things – they push me to learn and gather new experiences
- Learning this new thing will help me prepare for future events
- The greater purpose of getting through this is _________________
- ….
My son is going through his own “hard things” phase with the start of a new school year. We talked about mindset, changing the way we look at the world and he had an epiphany.
We can do anything except if we do nothing.
It’s hard to argue with that kind of wisdom and clarity.
The Objective Co 