What is going to be hard?

Life is hard. Regardless whether you do everything right.

It’s the hardest thing we’ll ever do.

The good news is that ‘hard’ is relative.

What is hard to you may seem easy to your neighbor.

What is hard to someone living in a third world country may seem impossible to us.

The privilege that we have, and it is a privilege you shouldn’t waste, is the opportunity to choose what is going to be hard in your life.

See—the hard isn’t just relative to how others experience it, the hard is relative to all the tasks you have to do each day.

This is called the contrast effect, and it’s one of the most useful tools we have for motivation.

We can choose a hard task in order to make other life tasks seem more bearable in contrast. For example, we can choose to do a hard workout everyday, so that the chores you have to do later actually feel easy.

“This is called the contrast effect, and it’s one of the most useful tools we have for motivation.”

You made it through an incredibly challenging 60 minute HIIT class—taking out the garbage feels like nothing in comparison.

Or maybe you wait three hours after you wake up in the morning to look at your phone. It may not seem very hard, but trust me, I know from experience that the draw can be almost irresistible. Yet when I’m successful, it completely rewires the rest of my day to be more willing to do hard things.

Life will inevitably be hard. The choices you make and the resulting pain you’re willing to experience will determine whether the hardness of life breaks you down or builds you up.

Choose your hard.