Those of you without a YouTube account would probably need an introduction to David Goggins. He is the guy that haunts you when you are slacking.
He has made a career( quite lucrative) out of doing the hard things. Something he programmed himself to do when he was 24, obese and terrible at living. So, what did he do? Moped about his sorry life to random people? No, Sir! He went ahead and turned his life around by becoming a US Navy Seal and an ultra-marathon runner.
He was diagnosed with ADD in childhood, and therefore, learning anything gets incredibly difficult for him, so he reads, writes what he reads, and then goes back and does it again until his memory turns photographic!
I chose this daily prompt because I listened to his podcast with Andrew Huberman recently, where he opened up about his life, challenges, and how he built a rock-hard willpower. Here is the podcast if you haven’t already watched it. I implore you to watch or listen to it today.
As an incredibly selfish and, to some extent, lazy person, I only do things that I want to do. I like to write, and I like to work out, so there ain’t much effort needed to do these two. But ask me to go out and interact with people, and you will find me cowering in a corner. But if you want me to do something difficult or unsavoury, tell me what good it will do to me. It will make me do it, not money, not material perks, not even treats (a major difference between my cat and me).
So, what good would doing a hard thing bring? Apart from bragging points, of course.
Well, there’s a part of your brain called the anterior midcingulate cortex, which is responsible for complex cognitive functions such as empathy, impulse control, emotion, and decision-making. Things that you keep postponing and evading. For me, it would be giving a speech to a room full of people; for you, it could be something as random as gardening. But by doing those difficult, sucky things, we build our will, our resilience, and the ability to grow.
It has really impacted me to the extent that I am writing about it here, but I know it won’t be easy actually doing them. Even the thought of public speaking sets my heart racing, and my thoughts are all twisty. But what the heck? Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?
Fingers in symphony 