Add show notes here!

Episode 419 – Doing the hard work is a journey

• I don’t know how many blog posts and inspirational social media posts I have read encouraging me to do the work
• And I cant tell you how many times I not only agreed with them whole-heartedly, but also was 100% certain that I AM doing the hard work
• And you would probably agree that I work hard because I have shared with you a lot of the things that are on my plate
  • One of them is this podcast
• But that’s only one of the many things I work hard at
• And I am sure you do too
  • We have our responsibilities and tasks
  • We have projects we are working
  • We have goals, such as being healthier or learning a new skill and we work really hard on those
• But – I have to tell you – working hard is much harder than I thought
• Working hard on something is not just putting in the sweat and getting it done and then checking in off
• I realized, as I am working on learning the skill of a becoming a better speaker, that working hard is a journey
  • And that I struggle with journeys
• I like journeys – travels, adventures, new skills and experiences – no problem
• But I want to get there as quickly as possible and get them done
• So no – I am not good with journeys
• Especially if they take long
• I am good with reaching the destination, getting to my end result, making it there
• But I don’t enjoy the view
• And the real hard work
• Those things in life that challenges us profoundly
  • Not the next paper – or report – once written and turned in its done
  • No the repetitive stuff that we know how to do which can seem like hard work, but its merely a grind
  • Not the stuff you do once and never again
• I am talking about the hard work of learning a craft, of starting something great, of pursuing a goal that is highly challenging
• The hard work of seeing something though all the way to the end
• Planting the seed, watering it, helping and seeing it grow and making sure it turns into something magnificent
• I don’t think there are many such things we undertake in our life time
  • Maybe the start of a new business
  • Raising of children
  • Learning a new skill that leads into a new career
  • training for a major physical challenge
• for me and many of you the last time we did the hard work was probably college
• or, if your career was challenging to learn, then maybe that was your last time
• maybe you trained for a marathon
• but unless we are forced by our passion for something specific or a need to earn an income, we quite often shy away from the hard work
  • we cruise in our careers
  • we pick goals that are achievable
  • we choose adventures that are safe
• and our constantly busy lives keep us believing that we are working hard on everything because at the end of each day we are pretty darn exhausted
• but let me tell you what I realized:
• the hard work is a journey that involves a steep hill
  • there is tough climbing involved
  • there are stretches where you cannot see anything ahead of you, walking almost blindly
  • where you need to trust that the path is there
  • there are setbacks
    • sections where you pause and you are not sure if you can continue or which directions you should take
  • and there are certainly celebrations
    • points you reach where the view is spectacular
    • where you suddenly know you are on the right track
    • where you are amazed how far you have come
    • where you cannot wait to continue and see what else awaits
  • the hard work is a process, often a long one
  • and when you expect you can finish it quickly
  • when you think you got it, you have it nailed
  • when you feel confident and ahead of everyone
  • you will be humbled
  • because hard work is harder than you think
  • its so hard that you will cry at times
  • you will question if you should give up because you don’t have it in you
  • you will wonder how you will ever get there
  • it will shake up your entire life
  • your schedule, your time, your priorities
  • it will consume you
  • but it will not eat you up because your decided to do it
  • when we commit to the hard work, we know its good for us
  • it will bring us results, maybe money, or other forms of rewards
  • we do the hard work because we want to
  • and now that I am right in the middle of it, I have to tell you
  • its good for us to do hard work from time to time
  • some people do it all their lifes
  • I watched a video clip the other day where Joe Rogan interviews the Comedian Chris Rock
  • I was blown away by the amount of hard work Chris puts into his craft
  • Hours and hours of testing new jokes,
  • …..
  • Sacrificing his family, his personal time, probably his sleep
  • To perfect a craft
  • In my speaking course is a Canadian Olympic athlete
  • She trains 2x per day
  • When we all sit down comfortably for our lunch break, she is out running and then gobbles down her food in 5 min when she returns just in time for the session to start back up
  • Doing the hard work transforms our life, and the lives of others around us
  • Because when we become really good at something
  • When we put the hard work into mastering something, others will almost always benefit from that
  • And they will show us that they benefit by applauding us – with medals, with money by purchasing our products and services and by talking about us with others
  • In short:
  • Doing the hard work pays off
  • It may not always pay off in the result we had in mind when we started
  • But if we make it a journey, and not a chase for a single outcome, it will pay off in its own way
  • It may lead us down a track we hadn’t considered
  • We will meet people we would have otherwise never met
  • Doors will open and opportunities will present themselves
  • But this will only happen when we keep our blinders open
  •  
  • I set out on my speaking journey with a goal in mind
  • I knew it would be hard
  • But it didn’t plan on setbacks, on different directions, on insights and no – I didn’t think it would be THAT hard
  • When setback occur I get discouraged
  • When what I thought was pretty good turns out to be not that good yet, I want to throw the towel
  • Hard work is hard, but here is the good thing that I had to remind myself of:
  • Its progress
  • Every setback is progress
  • That’s when the motivational IG posts suddenly seem to actually gain meaning for me again
  • When I am in the middle of doing the hard work
  • Not when I am comfortably on my couch scrolling my feeds because I don’t feel like going to the gym
  • But when I am on a plan, just like now – discouraged because it didn’t go as I expected
  • That’s when I realize
  • The hard work is hard for a reason
  • It prepares us for something we have never done before
  • It readies us so we can take our life and that of others in a new direction
  • And failures are part of it
    • Because they teach us a lesson
    • They help us correct course
    • Sometimes they are simply a break so we can catch our breath and refocus
  • The hard work is a journey that can last a life time
  • Perfect doesn’t exists but we can get close
  • Look at the people you admire
  • Those that you follow on SM, whose biographies you read, whose books you buy
  • In your eyes they are probably near perfect
  • We can be that person for someone else
  • But often we don’t think we have what they have
  • The skills, the talent, the time or the money
  • When all they really have is the commitment to do the hard work
  • The commitment we are unwilling to make
  •  
  • Now that for the first time in a long time I feel I have committed myself to something life-changing I can only say this:
  • Its good for me
  • I am not only learning a new craft but I am also becoming a better person along the way
  • Because as is with anything we are serious about –
  • In order to reach our goal, lots is requires
  • And anytime in life when we have to give it our all
  • We learn more about ourselves
  • Our behaviors, our character, our habits and our personality are all part of the learning process
  • We also learn more about others because almost all the time our hard work involves working with other human beings
  • The hard work doesn’t just pay off with the outcome we set out to do, or something similar, but it shapes us in so many other ways
    • Ways we cannot really predict in advance
  •  
  • My entire life is a journey
  • And for my entire life I have struggled accepting that I never quite arrive
  • No matter how high and difficult my goals have been – I am always overly focused on the process and miss enjoying the journey along the way
  • I am learning a craft – that of speaking
  • But I am not only learning that
  • There is so much more I am leanring and can learn if I open myself up to the journey
    • By not rushing it
    • By taking every success and failure and using it as another step to grow
    • By looking around and being open to whatever else may be part of this journey that I am not yet quite aware of
  • I will share some of these learnings with you in future episodes
  • But the big takeway today is this
  • Doing the hard work is a process
    • A process that takes time
    • A process that may never end
    • because there is always more to learn and that is a good thing
    • Because arriving means becoming stale
    • Not improving, just staying in one place
    • And who wants that?
  • So maybe this time I will learn to appreciate the process
  • By doing the hard work
  • By learning a new skill
  • A skill I haven’t learned yet – I am in the middle of it
  • But along the way I am learning other things
  • And this is one of them
  •  
  • And I wish you the same
  • That you can find yourself fulfilled in doing something hard
  • Something really challenging
  • And that it teaches you more than just the one skill
  • Or gives you more than just one outcome
  • But that you learn life skills that make you a better human
  • And that those open your eyes to the fact that this amazing life is a constant journey
  • That, in order to be our best, we will always have to do hard work
  •  
  • Much love
  •