When we come across hard things we habitually tend to look for easy things to do instead.
We’ll convince ourselves we need a break, or that would be better tackled later when we’ll be ready. The thing is there never is a time called ‘ready’.
We will talk ourselves out of the hard challenges as it requires putting ourselves at risk and it is uncertain. We opt for easy. Easy is comfortable and brings instant gratification, a chemical feel-good fix inside.
The thing is when we opt for easy whenever we encounter hard things in the future we have conditioned ourselves to search for easy. It becomes a habit that leads us to shy more and more from risk, from challenges and it leads to the search for certainty and avoidance.
If we tackle the hard things, we create a different habit that starts to look for hard things and then we learn and get even better. Initially, it is tough, although 99% of the time the things are never anywhere near as hard as our mind will imagine them, however, like all habits it gets more rewarding and therefore sustainable.
We can always go back to the easy stuff afterwards when we’ve done the hard tasks. However, more often than not the easy becomes less and less appealing the same way the hard things do when we avoid them.
Going back to easy stuff fades. Avoiding hard things leads to nothing.
