Hello Muser!

Something that has been on my mind often is this:

Doing hard things is progress.

"But wait!" I hear you say, "I was always told that the path of least resistance is the best!". Just like my newsletter on growth mindset, this is going to be one of the lessons that took me a long time to learn. In life, several things can be true at the same time and I think the path of least resistance is an important concept but it's applied by most people in the wrong circumstances. How can finding and committing to the hard thing be great for you? Let’s talk about the opposite first.

Why Do We Seek Easy Things?

• Easy things are satisfying

• Easy things are inside your comfort zone

• You know all the variables

• There isn't anything to challenge your understanding

• Easy things protect your ego

To some extent, I believe that seeking easier targets, tasks, ideas, and philosophies, is a defense mechanism. Life used to be much harder for us from an evolutionary perspective. Conserving energy and being efficient is a natural consequence of having to expend most of our mental and physical energy just to survive. Why bother exhaustion hunting an animal over miles when you can just eat fruit you can pull off a tree? We still had to chase animals for miles and miles to survive so it made sense to take the easy wins when we could get them.

That's obviously a simplified example but it’s something that rings true for me. For a lot of my life, I chose the easy way out with the rationale "Why bother? It doesn't make that much of a difference.".

• It was easier to stay up late than to go to sleep at a set time during college.

• It was easier to ignore homework until the last minute.

• It was easier to not study than to struggle with concepts that were unfamiliar.

Nobody likes doing hard work, it’s not how we’re wired.

Why Do We Avoid Hard Things?

• Hard things can cause physical and/or mental discomfort

• Hard things use a lot of energy

• Hard things don't usually give that much immediate return

These reasons are the flip side of seeking easier things but the concepts are so intertwined that comparing them means that it can be challenging to untangle the two. Like hot and cold, you feel them most keenly in the absence of one or the other.

Some examples may help clarify here.

We all know that physical exercise (whether cardio or strength training) is hugely beneficial for people but it's physically draining, you mentally resist starting, and you don't see any results for several weeks if not MONTHS.

Financial responsibility is similar. You should absolutely be saving into an emergency fund, and preparing for your future but it took me a long time to start doing those things because there's not much benefit right now and we tend to seek immediate gratification.

Why Should We Choose The Hard Things?

With all those strikes against difficult pursuits, what reasoning is there for actively choosing the harder path? I think it comes down to one word:

Compounding.

The examples above take a very long time to see tangible benefits but those benefits stack the longer and longer you continue pursuing them. The longer you exercise, the more adept you become at exercise which allows you to do more physically and prevents further injury! The more consistently you save, the more financially stable you become, allowing you to weather larger and larger problems that will, inevitably, cost more and more money. The habits you build from pursuing the harder path continue to reward you in larger and larger amounts the longer you persist at them. The compounding effect is responsible for almost every single success you've had and the successes you'll build in the future!

The problem now becomes: "Do I always choose the hard path? That seems soul-sucking and demoralizing!" and my answer is "No. You need to be able to tell when it's the right time to choose the hard path!"

How Do We Build Discernment?

Here, discernment is the ability to tell, out of multiple options, which is the right decision to make. Sometimes it IS the path of least resistance. More often than we would like, it's the path of MORE resistance.

The guideline I've used is this:

Would some future version of yourself regret not taking a particular path?

• If yes, that's the one to take, no matter how hard it is.

• If not, it's probably inconsequential and you can choose the easiest option.

In the context of the examples from earlier:

Will future me regret not saving an emergency fund when I break my leg, requiring an ambulance, emergency room fees, and surgery? I can tell you this without the hypothetical.

In July 2021, I spiral fractured both bones in my lower right leg. I did need an ambulance, emergency room fees, and a substantial surgery. The recovery was long and the medical bills I received were thousands of dollars. I most certainly would have regretted not having my finances in order when it happened.

In the same way, the physical recovery was incredibly difficult. I wasn't able to put any weight on my right leg for almost 4 months and lost a lot of muscle. Present-me would definitely regret not having gone to physical therapy and continued exercise to rebuild my strength.

So in the end, I did both of those things and I’m very happy that I did. I would not have the quality of life I do not if I hadn’t!

I know this topic can seem totally unrelated to Devops and configuration management and some of the topics we've covered already but I think it's actually the most important. If you are questioning whether this is the right path for you to take, ask yourself if future-you would regret NOT studying these technologies for your career.

If the answer is yes, then the course is clear. You have to keep studying and practicing and learning as you can, even as difficult as it can be!

Don’t be scared of choosing the harder path! The rewards are worth the challenge!

Has choosing the harder path brought you success? Let me know by commenting below!

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Keep learning and keep growing,

Darrell