Everything Easy Used To Be Hard
Brian Ford
Using personal development to fundraise for charity | Self-Improvement Podcaster (20+ million downloads) | Social Impact Leader (Nonprofit founder at For Purpose Foundation)
Sometimes we don’t give ourselves enough credit for how much we’ve learned, how much we’ve improved, and how far we’ve come. As growth-oriented individuals, we focus on areas where we’re falling short of our own expectations. It dominates our attention (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), but for every shortcoming we have right now, we have 10 things we’ve mastered without realizing it.
That’s because everything that feels easy today used to be hard when we were first getting started. Our focus is placed disproportionately on the things that require our energy and effort. Things that have become easy don't get the same attention because it’s not as important to allocate resources to - You’re already in the swing of it! But the only way it got to that point is because you were focused on it at one point, you used to spend your energy figuring out how to do it better, which led to your improvement and efficiency.
Here are a few examples. As a kid, we learned how to walk, tie our shoes, and hold objects. If you’ve watched a kid recently learning how to do any of those things, you see their focus. It’s a challenge for them. But once they invest the time to master whatever it is, it has become easy. How about as adults. When we were first learning how to cook, how to pump gas, how to work our smartphones. It was difficult at first, but now you do those things without trouble.
Beyond the awareness and appreciation of this, what does this mean for you today? Take a look at the things that are hard for you to do. It could be improving at a new skill or hobby, or dialing in a new process. It’s hard now but it won’t be that way forever.?
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So don’t give up on it, don’t sell yourself short because it’s not working how you want it to now. Have faith in this process that you’ve seen play out time and again in your life, and invest the time and energy required to overcome whatever frustrations this new challenge presents.
Everything easy was once hard to do. These hard things you’re doing now will become easy and integrate into the foundation that allows you to stretch even further.
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