How To Do Hard Things Really Well.
By: Anthony Moore
Tags: Self Improvement, Personal Development, Life Lessons, Anthony Moore, Productivity

How To Do Hard Things Really Well.

Here’s why people are unhappy

“People are unhappy in large part because they are confused about what is valuable.” -William Irvine

When I was in high school, I barely made the cut for the freshman basketball team. My goal had changed from “be a basketball star” to “just don’t embarrass yourself.”

I was already a poor shooter; I frequently air-balled, missing the basket entirely. It was really embarrassing.

So I changed another goal of mine:

Instead of trying to make a basket, I just tried to hit the basket “area.”

Anything was better than the embarrassment of missing entirely, so…I just aimed to hit something. Turns out, hitting the rim/backboard isn’t that hard. It’s a huge target. I pretty much always hit it.

…But I never scored any points. (Except on accident).

If your goal is simply “don’t embarrass yourself” or “don’t look stupid,” you can probably succeed. It’s not that hard to hide behind the scenes.

But then you miss the whole point.

If you focus on the nickels and dimes of life — the small, pointless stuff, stuff that just makes you “look” good — that’s probably all you’ll get.

Here’s Why Most People Will Stay Stuck in Mediocrity

Most people are distracted right now. They’re focusing on the wrong things.

They’re distracted while they’re at work. They’re distracted when they’re with family and friends.

They’re distracted at the gym, on their commute, and even in the shower.

The mediocre majority will continue going through life this way, never experiencing the fullness of a life filled with deep focus and purpose. They continue to focus on the small things, while the most important opportunities of their life pass them by.

As a result, they don’t have close relationships. They’re stuck in jobs they hate. Their life is on the fast-track to disappointment, and they don’t know what to do.

This is what happens when you focus on the nickels and dimes — on winning small petty battles at the cost of losing the war. Would you rather be happy, or do you just want to be “right” all the time? Do you want to “look” rich and successful…or actually be rich and successful?

In the end, you’ll usually get what you aim for. If your goal is just to appear like you have everything in order, then you’ll probably achieve that. Many people do.

But that’s all you’re going to get.

Don’t Worry About “Beating the Other Guy.” Just Focus on Doing Hard Things Well

A while back, I was speaking with a man who’d gotten over 30 years of sobriety from alcohol through Alcoholics Anonymous.

I asked him how he did it. He told me that sometimes, the best you can do is just to get through the day without drinking.

Some days, you might be a grouch, irritable and angry and resentful at everyone around you. It’s not pretty. You’ll probably feel like a loser.

But sometimes, that’s the best you can do.

Doing hard things well doesn’t have to be pretty. But when things get hard, and they will, you can count on that more than almost anything in the world — people will start coming to you for help and wisdom. You’ll become a stronger, more competent, and more capable person. People are attracted to someone like that.

Many people just approach their goals with a simple strategy: to beat the other guy. As Grant Cardone once wrote, “Many people think in terms of ‘I have to do what my colleague/neighbor/family member is doing’ instead of ‘I have to do what’s best for me.’”

This is backward-thinking. Looking better than other people doesn’t matter. That’s focusing on the nickels and dimes.

You need to focus on the right things, the things that last and actually mean something. Otherwise, maybe you’ll achieve your years-long goal one day, and realize the whole thing never mattered anyway.

Very few people are focused on winning the only game worth winning: being better than you were yesterday. As Ernest Hemingway once wrote:

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.”

Doing hard things well is one of the finest and most noble skills you can ever learn. If you can do hard things well, you can probably expect to see increases in your income, ability, and opportunities.

The problem is, most people aren’t focused on that. Most people, if given the choice, tend to take take the easy way out. It’s always going to be easier to look at your phone, watch TV, or zone out on drugs/alcohol than confront a difficult problem.

But here’s a secret most people stewing in mediocrity don’t realize:

It’s actually harder to live in mediocrity than work towards greatness.

Waking up every day knowing today is going to be average-at-best is exhausting. It’s depressing. It sucks all your energy out before you even get out the door.

It might seem easier to simply stay where you are; it’s not great, but why rock the boat, right?

Wrong. Remaining in mediocrity is more exhausting than working towards success. It takes energy either way — why not get what you want in the process?

If you’re going to pay a price anyway, why not pay the price of achieving greatness and self-confidence?

Take Extreme Ownership of Radical Goals

Most people will never be truly successful.

The pull towards mediocrity is too strong. As David Schwartz once penned, “All around you is an environment that is trying to pull you down to Second-Class Street.”

Most people will never escape the pull.

Radical goals are scary. For me, actually making a basket when I played basketball seemed too hard for me. So I settled for just not embarrassing myself, shooting a shot practically guaranteed to miss in exchange for not looking silly.

Much of the thinking around us is small-minded. Most people are overly concerned with “beating the other guy,” usually through manipulation and politics. As a result, they’re left fighting for scraps with the other 99%.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

A life of your deepest dreams — 100% financial independence, being your own boss, traveling the world with your family, whatever — is available, if you know where to start.

But most people will never turn away from the safety and security of the crowd to realize this.

“All of us, more than we recognize, are products of the thinking around us. And much of this thinking is small.” -David Schwartz

Instead, take extreme ownership of radical goals.

When you take ownership of your goals, you achieve incredible things. In reality, there’s less competition for bigger goals. When you choose to focus on achieving truly big goals, you’ll find your odds of succeeding quite a bit higher.

The fishing is best where the fewest go, as they say.

Here’s What Happens When You Aim Higher Than Ever Before

How you act determines how you are.

In his autobiography, Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote:

The only way you become a leading man is to treat yourself like a leading man, and work your ass off.

When I first started writing, I treated myself like a complete amateur writer. I didn’t invest in any tools or training, I wrote inconsistently, and didn’t focus on providing any real value. As a result, I never made any progress.

Years passed. Finally, I started treating myself like a true professional. I did what professional writers were doing — investing in themselves, experimenting, learning new skills, failing forward.

So I started making serious investments in like myself, like buying a $500 writing course and reading dozens of books. I also started writing consistently, and focused on learning and creating, not entertainment. I tried new things. I ignored the mean comments and kept writing.

Treating myself like a professional writer has gotten me enormous results. The other day, I emailed a best-selling author to ask for a book endorsement — because why not? They responded, and they’re endorsing my book!!

Treat yourself like a professional. If you want to be something, then act like it.

When you start treating yourself like a pro, and start to achieve truly big goals…a few things will happen.

You’ll realize how hard the goal really is You’ll realize that despite the difficulty, you can probably achieve it

Navy SEALs discovered that most people quit right around 40% of their actual capacity. This “40% rule” tells me one thing — you’re stronger than you think, and you can achieve far more than you think.

When you strive for big goals, you’ll become a different person. It almost feels like you’ve seen the matrix, like you’ve discovered some profound secret to life that’s as simple as it is obvious:

You can have whatever you want if you do whatever it takes.

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