Embrace The Suck - Struggle to Succeed

“Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle” – Napoleon Hill

We can’t fight the urge to want it to be easy. Whatever your IT is, we are always looking for the magic solution, the secret sauce, the pill that will fix it.

It’s in our biology, a survival mechanism hard coded into our operating system. We are always looking for ways to conserve energy, to avoid danger (risk) and seek comfort. All of those pursuits result in living to the next day, through the next winter, until the next harvest. It has been a valuable tool for us at times, and is in part the reason why as a species we are here today. That drive to innovate and problem solve is why we have some of the wonderful systems and inventions that have allowed us to flourish. However, we need to remember all of those creations came on the tail end of immense struggle. The willingness to struggle is what we have lost.

In the fast moving world of our innovations, many of us have lost sight of the fact that the struggle was necessary for those innovations. Struggle is the loading phase required for innovation, creativity, flow, problem solving, and ultimately success. There is no great success without an equal or greater proportion of struggle. The most beautiful views are at the end of arduous trails. Our favorite stories to tell and the most captivating, are the ones that involve a struggle, and overcoming that struggle against all odds.

Don’t rob yourself of your Rocky moment by wanting it to be easier. This is your road to success. Embrace the suck. Put yourself in the trenches with it, and realize that the struggle you are feeling is just creativity and success loading if you execute.

Have a great week and embrace the struggle.