There's more than one way to do a hard thing
As a society, we glorify achievement and tests of will: grueling workouts, day-long sprints of unbroken work, consuming no meat, consuming only meat, cold plunges, two day fasts, you name it.
But how many of these are internally motived? Because we enjoy them? Because we believe they will lead to personal growth? Because they're sustainable, proven, logical?
The truth is there's much less sexy ways to do hard things, like:
- Getting 10,000 steps per day
- Eating a balanced diet, day after day
- Working intentionally
- Relaxing intentionally
- Being a good friend and family member
- Starting small and working your way up
- Showing up and contributing, day after day
Doing hard things is important and well, hard.
But there's more than one way to do a hard thing, and most of the unsexy ones will get you better results than if you overextend to compensate, distract, or otherwise placate a busy mind.
Trust me, that's purely from experience.