Do Hard Things
Build the undeniable stack of proof that you can handle whatever life throws at you.
Two weekends ago, I got up and ran a 5k on Saturday morning. It was a crisp, Midwest morning and we arrived at the race with plenty of time to prepare. However, on the other side of getting there early is standing in 40-degree weather with shorts and a long-sleeved t-shirt waiting for the race to start. You wonder, “Why did I ever think it was a good idea to leave the comfort of my bed? I thought it would be fun to freeze while waiting to put myself through voluntary pain?” Everyone has been there.
Luckily, the race eventually starts and about a mile in you are now at least warm but at the same time, your breathing is heavy, your legs are full of lactic acid, and you realize just how delightful it is to spend your Saturday morning doing a 5k while snot drips down your nose. It seems like a losing proposition.
Our whole lives, we are led to believe that the goal of life is ease and comfort, a 5k on a Saturday morning is just plain stupid. Instead, we should just sit at home and order food from an app and binge-watch movies from our couch for only $15.49 per month. The less energy we exert in getting what we want, the more we “made it” in life.
It’s a wonderful lie.
Real success is not never having to leave your couch to get your Chipotle while you binge watch Succession. It is getting up at 7 am to do your neighborhood 5k in near-freezing temperatures or doing whatever “hard thing” that may be.
It is about proving to yourself that you can do hard things. That is where real success lies. It is about running a 5k and then going to the gym to build that undeniable stack of proof. A stack of proof that shows you you are more than what you fear and with enough resilience those fears and doubts will submit to you.
If we never challenged ourselves, it would be a life of stagnancy and a life of being stuck in the mud. We never remember the days of sitting around, doing nothing. We remember the days of finally finishing writing our first book, spending our morning running a 10k in a severe rainstorm, quitting smoking, or doing our first athletic competition. We remember the days of doing hard things. Hard things give meaning to our days and hard things light us up on the inside.
There is nothing particularly fun about walking into a CrossFit gym and thinking you are strong for your body weight, a very competent lifter, and have decent cardiovascular fitness only to be humbled and realize it is an entirely new lifting language. An entirely new language where you only know the basic phrases. One where you thought you were at least competent but were mistaken.
Even writing this newsletter. At the beginning you are writing to yourself and maybe a few friends and family. There is nothing easy about starting something new and having no idea if people want to hear what you have to say. It is about figuring it out along the way, writing and failing, and doing it over until you succeed. It is about doing hard things.
It is necessary to do hard things, take risks, and fail. Hard things are hard things for a reason. You might not conquer them, but that is an important risk to assume. Attempting to do hard things is much better than never taking any risks. Mark Zuckerberg says,
“The biggest risk you can take is not taking any risk. In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking any risks.”
It just takes the activation energy to begin. Take the initial leap that seems risky. Once you shake out the kinks and dust off the cobwebs, you are clicking. It is just getting through that first mile that is the hardest. It is realizing that things get worse first. They get worse first because that is how all growth and improvement happens. But once you get through that first mile or over that first hill, you start to get into your groove and understand why you continue to get up at 7 am on a 40-degree morning to do a 5k. There is something about seeking out hard things.
That something is rooted in that non-self-elected challenges are inevitable. Unexpected challenges are bound to arise. It is when these challenges arrive you can say, “I may not know how this will turn out, but I am certain I can do hard things because I have done hard things.” Don’t self-inflict but hard things are almost certainly worthwhile. Worthwhile to do them by choice because whenever they inevitably choose you, you will be ready.
It is when you are wrapping up that third mile and finishing up that you begin to realize how it all makes sense. At this point, you are comfortable with being uncomfortable. You have been here before and you are familiar with the pain. It’s not just in a 5k either. In investing it is dealing with the weekly, monthly, and yearly downturns of the economy. In writing it is staring at a blank piece of paper but at least getting something on paper so you have a frame from which to build. In sports, it is in Game 5 of the 2006 NBA finals.
With 1.9 left on the clock in OT of Game 5 of the 2006 NBA finals, Dwyane Wade went to the free throw line to take the lead. The Heat were down one and the series was tied at two games a piece. He told the story of the free throws,
“The night before, I was in the gym at midnight. And I was like ‘ I know games come down to free throws. No matter what happens, it’s going to come down to free throws.’ So I was in the gym and I had my cousin standing next to me, I had him right in my ear talking shit to me. And so the next night, I get in the same situation where I got to make these free throws. And I just went back to last night in the gym. I just went right back to that. I was like, ‘I just hit 200 of these last night. I got this.’”
Unsurprisingly, Wade hit both free throws. The Heat not only won the game, but they would go on to win the series. The confidence in these situations is borne out of work, hard work. There is nothing particularly fun about the night before the biggest game of your life shooting over 200 free throws. However, there is something particularly fun about winning a championship and clinching a pivotal game five for your team. To ever be able to do that, you have to do hard things. The confidence in those moments is borne out of already having done it. You’ve already done it over, and over, and over a thousand times. This time is no different. It is about embracing the discomfort and going outside your comfort zone.
A life of comfort is a life of average. There’s nothing inherently fun about discomfort, at least in the moment. What is fun about discomfort is what lies on the other side. Average is paralyzing but the antidote to avoiding that paralysis is to seek out hard things, or at least things outside of your comfort zone. No one ever seeks to be average. No one’s obituary ever talks of “They will be remembered for being average. A life that wasn’t bad but also wasn’t great. They will forever be remembered for always being comfortable.”
The beauty of discomfort is that what was once uncomfortable can become comfortable. Something once thought to be inconceivable becomes ordinary. What was once a hard thing is now easy. There is a reason why we do hard things. There is a reason why we get up at 7 am to do a 5k. Be comfortable with being uncomfortable because when you embrace that discomfort you can do nearly anything you want in life because you already have proof that you can do hard things.
Appreciate you reading.
-Scantron
Scantron’s Selections - A few things I loved this week.
Morgan Housel - The Diary of A CEO - Possibly, the best author on money today. Morgan walks through interesting points on why you don’t need to buy a house, who he writes for, and the importance on not needing to impress anyone with your money.
“Creating Your Own Career” - Jack Raines - In the digital world today, it is never easier than ever to create your own path/career. Jack walks through how he has gotten jobs despite there never being a job posting for them.