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Life gets so much easier when you get comfortable doing hard things
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'I think I want to drop out.' My son says to me. He's just started a coding assignment in the military. Out of the 7 selected for this unit, he's the only one without any coding experience. 'I'm slowing everyone down. They're all ahead in the assignments.' When things get hard, it's natural to feel like giving up. So I asked him, 'Is this something you want to learn and do?' 'Yes.' he said. So I said, 'Then you'll have to be prepared it will be hard in the beginning because you're trying to learn something in 2 weeks which they took 2 years to do. What can you do to make it easier?' I don't know the answers, but I hope it's planted some ideas in his head to go look for solutions and find a way to make what he wants work. Like my son, we all face challenging times. It feels so much easier to give up. But giving up is the last thing you want to do when things get hard. It's the surest way to live a small, limited life that gets harder and harder because your ability to handle hard things shrinks. Life will always present you with challenges. Every time you give up, your life gets smaller. Conversely, every time you rise to the occasion, you grow and expand a little bit. Your ability to handle more expands. Soon, big challenges become smaller challenges. Life gets easier, more enjoyable, and more fulfilling. You feel more confident and powerful. When things feel hard, it's because your brain is making new neural pathways. Your brain is restructuring itself. You're getting smarter and mentally stronger to handle more so life becomes easier. Everything that we find easy now was once hard to do. What you want to accomplish but haven't yet is no different. One thing that's helped me get through these hard times is journaling through the difficult emotions and frustrations. I'm showing you how I do it this Thursday. Steal it, copy it, make it your own. Then use it to go do the hard thing to get what you want! Sign up HERE. See you soon. Sharon |
Sharon Singh Sidhu
Subscribe to receive my weekly newsletter, Career Redesigned, where I share insights on career security, building beyond a salary, and creating more choice in work and life from a HR insider's perspective.
Most people are taught to build their lives around one source of income. Go to school. Get a good job. Work hard. Stay loyal. And everything will work out. I believed that too. Then life taught me otherwise. My husband and I shut down a business and were left with a six-figure debt. I returned to corporate life to recover. Shortly after, I was laid off while I was the sole provider for my family. That experience changed how I think about work forever. Not because jobs are bad. I've spent...
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