The value of doing hard things everyday
From the moment the alarm clock goes off in the morning, we all have a list of tasks and duties that need to get done.
You jump out of bed, splash some water on your face, brush your teeth, take a shower and get dressed for your day.
Maybe you put some coffee or tea to brew and you go through a rapid fire mental rolodex of all of the things that you need to get done today. Some of these tasks are quite simple, like picking up your clothes from the cleaners on your lunch hour, or simply making it to work on time.
The point is, everyone’s day is different.
However, what is not different is that on our daily list of things to do there are always tasks and duties that pretty much increase your desire to run in the opposite direction.
We all know those tasks: exercise, laundry, completing tedious tasks for work or school, cleaning up the house/room, washing the cars, fixing something that is broken, writing a research paper—the list can be quite long if you gather all of the things that suck and are difficult.
In taking in this view of our daily tasks and responsibilities, we can easily see that there are some things that are rather easy that need to be done daily and that require minimal effort to complete. And then, there are those difficult tasks like going for an hour walk or a one hour strength training session, where you rather pull out your own teeth instead.
Clearly, you can see where I am going with this..
There is sheer value in spotting those difficult moments in each of our days. Instead of pulling back and retreating, I encourage that you catch yourself slipping and then purposely propel yourself into those difficult scenarios.
This is how psychological hardiness (resiliency) is born and bred.
If you are anything like me, your mind rather go towards the easy side rather than the hard side. This is where I have learned that in order to properly grow and become a better version of yourself, you must run towards the discomfort side of life.
If it is 100 degrees outside and you are scared of having to break a sweat and get bugs in your face while you walk, then you go walk.
If it is 5 o’clock in the morning and you know that you should get up early to get some extra study time in before that big test, but your warm bed and sleepy head says otherwise—you get up early and go study.
If it is 6pm and you just got home from a long day of work, but have laundry that your kids will need the next day but your couch is calling your name, you go do laundry.
You see, we all have days that are heavier than others, we all have tasks that require more effort and accountability on our own part, but the difference between those gaps is how you choose to handle them.
Do you run towards the hard difficult tasks and knock those out with authority?
OR
Do you put those tasks off as long as possible and try to pick at all the little easy ones that can give you more time on the easy train?
The people that attack their days no matter what task is set for that given day, are the ones who work towards putting themselves in uncomfortable situations and then look to find comfort within the uncomfortable. (hope you caught that 😉)
Learn to use each day as an opportunity to improve yourself by looking for all of the difficulties within your day and run towards them instead of avoiding them.
