My Way or the Hard Way: The Stubborn Learner’s Guide to Success

There are two kinds of learners in this world—the ones who follow the roadmap and the ones who throw the map out the window and build their own road. I’ve always leaned toward the latter. Not because I enjoy struggle for its own sake, but because I know that the lessons that stick with me aren’t the ones I was handed; they’re the ones I wrestled with until they made sense on my terms.

Some might call it stubbornness. I call it learning the hard way—but learning for life.

The Cost of Doing It My Way

There’s a price to be paid for insisting on figuring things out yourself. You’ll take wrong turns. You’ll waste time reinventing wheels. You’ll make mistakes that could’ve been avoided if you’d just followed instructions. But here’s the thing—those mistakes teach you more than any instruction manual ever could.

I remember the first time I accidentally deleted a client’s entire job folder—no backup, no safety net, just a slow-motion realization that I had burned the house down with a single keystroke. I didn’t need a tutorial on file recovery after that. I lived the consequences. And because of that, I never made that mistake again.

The Rewards of Stubborn Learning

For every pitfall of the self-taught path, there’s an equal and opposite benefit:

• Lessons that stick – When you struggle through something, you own that knowledge in a way you never would by passively absorbing it.
• Creative problem-solving – Being a stubborn learner forces you to develop resilience and adaptability. You learn to build bridges instead of waiting for someone else to pave the way.
• A deeper connection to your work – When you put in the sweat equity to master something on your own terms, it becomes yours. It’s not just information; it’s wisdom.

Why I Keep Doing It My Way

It would be easy to say, “Well, maybe I should change. Maybe I should just follow the proven path.” But I know myself too well. I don’t learn by being spoon-fed. I learn by getting my hands dirty, by making my own mistakes, and by discovering things at my own pace.

That’s not to say I don’t take advice. I do. But I filter it through my own experience. I don’t take shortcuts. I take my path, winding though it may be. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: The road may be harder, but the view is always better when you’ve carved your own way to the top.

Live Large. Be Bold. Have Faith. Fear Nothing.

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Louis Katz, keynote speaker and founder of The Courage Inside, works with organizations to build courageous companies and inspire transformative results. With a special focus on military and first responder communities, he understands the unique challenges of stepping into the arena when trust, resilience, and courage matter most.