Pick a struggle you can love.

“The struggle is guaranteed. The success is not. So you had better love the struggle.”

Tom Bilyeu said those words at RISE Business in Charleston earlier this month, and the arrow of truth in them struck me. 

Passion alone brings no guarantees. Strong work ethic doesn’t either. Meanwhile, business is difficult, draining, relentless in its needs as an infant.

I can’t help but think of Sisyphus rolling his boulder up a hill. One moment’s lapse in focus, one foot caught in a root, one infinitesimal letup in exertion, and his own progress, conspiring with forces like gravity, rolls backward and crushes him. He limps back to the beginning to start again. Scraped and sore, he has even fewer advantages on his side this time.

Launching and scaling a business has adversity the way air has oxygen. Adversity is one part of the fundamental composition. 

People who seem to have avoided it—golden children unblemished by pain and bad debt, nasty contracts and shoddy software architecture—simply edit their stories for interviews.

The struggle is guaranteed, and its counterpart is grace. (Other people call it “serendipity” or “luck.”)

Many bad things I expected to happen never did. Many more unforeseen goods and boons, perfectly timed windfalls and words of encouragement, have happened to me. 

Generous, wise folks who did not have to take an interest in me did. Business colleagues seven or seventy steps ahead orchestrated small and large wins. They stepped up beside me and leaned into my boulder. Often, that contribution profited them nothing except the joy of helping another human.

What I am saying is that none of us is really Sisyphus.

Each of us receives not just struggle but grace: interludes of rest and restoration when the boulder somehow stays put and real people bringing real relief.

If I were to turn Tom Bilyeu’s observation into advice for myself and for you, here is what it would be: Some struggles stoke our resolve. Others pull the drain plug. Pick a struggle you can love. 

Here is what I have observed: The people who keep going tend to experience more grace. And you are more likely to keep going if you love the struggle. 

The question is, Would you rather struggle at something you love or excel at something you don’t? Which represents a better investment of your life?

If you even have the freedom to pick your struggle, then you already float on unimaginable grace.