How To Fall In Love With Hard Work

There’s no movie montage.There’s no Rocky music.There’s no one following you with a camera.

What most people think “hard work” looks like just isn’t the case.

Hard work is getting out of bed when it’s cold and the sun hasn’t come up, yet.Hard work is having the difficult conversation with your teammate and redirecting their behavior.Hard work is trying to empathize with someone you totally disagree with.

And it’s the hard work that pushes us to our limits and tests our discipline.

It’s the hard work that helps challenge us to be better versions of ourselves.

What great opportunity!

This gratitude for challenging circumstances can totally transform our outlook!Even when you drop the ball and mess up: the good news is that every day, we get another shot.No matter how bad yesterday was, the sun just keeps coming up.It’s relentless!Just like you.

2 Minute Action

If you want to call in love with hard work, you need to build a relationship with it.You have to trust that it will pay off later and that it will make you stronger.Here are some examples of hard work that you can do in 2 minutes or less:Tell your partner you were wrong and want to make things better.Tell your boss you feel disrespected in the office.Do 2 minutes of burpees or pushups.You can absolutely build a habit or challenge yourself in 2 minutes or less.It’s just always up to you to show up and make it happen.

Don’t Be Like Rocky Balboa

It hurts me to say it, but it’s true.

I’m even from the greater Philadelphia area.Don’t be like Rocky Balboa.He got his shot at the big time, and it’s true that he survived it—but he sustained some serious damage.He has brain trauma, he almost went blind, his friend Paulie lost all of his money, and it took him years to muster up the courage to see his son.It’s all very sexy in the movies.But Rocky is a clumsy fighter and it took him two movies just to get the training he needed to be a more technical fighter.We all know how the story goes, but what if something had gone wrong?

Just one half-inch could have flipped his life even more upside down.

So, the next time you are faced with a problem or an impossible challenge, you should consider working smarter and not harder.Consider the odds and the consequences.Hope is not a strategy.Increasing your odds is a strategy.

2 Minute Action

What’s something is taking up 80% of your time or energy?Whats the thing that is causing 80% of your friction in whatever you’re doing.Work or life.That is your target.Take 2 minutes to identify some possible targets today.