Do something hard

We live in one of the greatest times in history. Never have so many people had life so good. Life today has luxuries unimagined even 20 years ago - and this allows us to live extremely comfortable lives.

But you could argue, we are too comfortable.

Especially those of us who are blessed with enough food, nice homes, good schools and with family and friends to care about us. These are all things to be encouraged and celebrated of course, but when does comfortable become bad for us? Can we have too much of a good thing?

We all know people who are a bit lazy, or seem to have lost the ability to face up to any sort of challenge in their life. It's always someone else's fault! They should have won the prize but the game is rigged! No-one listens to them! Life's not fair!

It's true, life isn't fair - so we have to ask ourself: "So what can we do about it?"

You probably already know that very few good things in life ever arrive just when you want them, just because you demand them. Good things require work, usually hard work over a long period of time.

When we face a difficult task, our first instinct might be to give up or avoid it altogether. But persisting through these challenges allows us to grow. Each time we push ourselves to try something hard, we're building mental and emotional strength. This process is similar to how our muscles grow stronger with exercise - our ability to handle challenges improves with practice.

So rather than waiting for something hard to come along and surprise us, it's good to get ready by doing something hard. We do this by finding fun activities that are going to really challenge us - and then mastering them. It could be a new skill, a sport, a piece of music, facing a fear, or trying lot of new things at once. Each time you succeed, you prove to yourself that you can do it. This makes you feel more confident to tackle new challenges.

When faced with what seems to be an overwhelming challenge, one tried and tested strategy is to break larger challenges into smaller, manageable chunks. This immediately makes the overall goal seem less daunting, while giving you an immediate first step which is achievable. Also celebrating these smaller achievements along the way can provide keep you going, even when the path gets tough.

So to recap: we practice for unexpected challenges, by deliberately doing things that are hard. We know good things come through hard work, over time.

However, there is a final aspect to doing something hard which is crucial to understand. Just because something is hard, or difficult to achieve, doesn't mean it is always worth the effort.

This is not a catch-all excuse to give up because something is hard, worthwhile activities are hard too. The reason this idea is crucial, is because it makes us check that where we are putting our effort is worthwhile. There are lots of hard things to do in this world, so let's make sure we are only spending time on things that are truly going to make our life better.