Q: What is the hardest thing you are capable of doing?
A: Typically we can imagine something just a little harder than the hardest thing we’ve done.
But what if we’ve never done hard things?
Earlier this year I helped my friend run a 100 mile ultra-marathon. And, while I thought he was crazy for volunteering to do something so difficult, I couldn’t help but admire his ability to do hard things.
As a culture, we’ve prided ourselves on our advancements in engineering and technology. Most work today involves little more than wiggling our fingers on a keyboard. We’ve happily paid for things that reduce difficulty and discomfort, but it’s cost us a piece of our self-image.
We stop seeing ourselves as powerful or able to overcome obstacles. Too much comfort makes us fragile. If we never tackle anything hard, we have no reason to think that we could. It cripples us before we even try.
Find a way to push yourself beyond what you’re comfortable with now, so that when a difficult time comes, you’ll know you’re built of the kind of stuff that can handle it.
Actionable Question: What’s the hardest thing you could do this week?
Have a good hard week,
Andrew Nemeth
Huge thanks to Nat Eliason who was able to articulate so much of what I had been feeling. You can read his original post here: