Falling in Love with Effort

Imagine, for a moment, that you had everything you ever wanted.

You step outside of your dream home onto a street where everyone instantly falls in love with you. The only dating problem you have is deciding who to go out with … and when!

You’re constantly praised, even if you never lift a finger. You do what you want when you want to do it. There’s no work, no relationship troubles and no stress.

Nothing is a challenge, everything is effortless. It’s endless chocolates, champagne, parties on yachts and trips in private jets.

Now, answer this: How long would it take before you get bored of this scenario?

We often think we that want everything to come to us without any effort, but for most of us, this kind of life would get pretty boring pretty fast.

The truth is, we love accomplishment. We love putting in our blood, sweat and tears to achieve big things in our personal lives and our careers.

What would feel better: Getting a promotion at work because you earned it? Or getting a promotion at work because you are related to the boss?

What about getting in great shape because you spent hours busting your butt at the gym? Or because your doctor gave you a magic pill?

Think about the accomplishments in your life that you’re most proud of. Was it easy? Or did it take some serious GOYA action?

I would bet that you felt happier and a greater sense of pride when you achieved something as a result of your hard work and drive, not because it was handed to you. We love rising to a challenge, improving ourselves from within and making truly great things happen. And the harder it is to achieve that goal, the sweeter it feels when we finally do.

So why do so many of us spend our days wishing that it would be easier? Wishing that the perfect job or perfect relationship would fall in our lap?

We simply forget that we love to work for it. We get tired, discouraged, impatient or frustrated. Or maybe we’ve worked so hard for so long without the big payoff that we’re starting to believe that the big payoff won’t happen.

Whatever the reason is for losing our drive, it’s time to get it back!

As Bear Grylls said at the recent Juice Plus conference in Barcelona:

You’ve got to fall in love with effort.

As a former SAS serviceman, adventurer and survivalist, Bear Grylls is no stranger to effort. He literally climbed Mount Everest when he was 23, 18 months after breaking three vertebrae in a parachuting accident.

He understands how great this effort can feel—even before you’ve reached the top.

Have you ever gotten so engrossed in a project and enjoyed the process so much—that even though it was hard work, it didn’t feel like hard work? It actually felt … fun?

That’s what falling in love with effort is all about. And if we can incorporate it into our lives, we’ll enjoy our days so much more—and achieve so much more.

Even if you’re not planning to climb Mount Everest, you must have some big challenge in your life. As Bear Grylls put it, “Everybody has their Everest.”

Your Everest could be an aspect of your life that has always been challenging or a stumbling block you’ve had just over the past year, month or week. It could be a work project, relationship troubles or a health issue.

Whatever your Everest is, don’t waste your time wishing that it was smaller. Know that it is going to be hard and take super strength, but when you get to the top, you will feel an overwhelming sense of pride, joy and/or relief.

And if you can fall in love with climbing your Everest, the reward at the top will feel even better.

A big Everest in my life has been accepting that I’m not going to make everybody happy. It takes courage to live your life on your own terms and not worry about what other people think or say, and I’ve worked hard to ignore the people who criticize me or project their crap onto me.  

A more recent Everest for me has been helping my mom move to a new city and clean out her house. If you’ve ever helped your parent move, you know how hard it can be!

So, what is YOUR Everest? What is the big challenge in your life that you need to climb? How will you remind yourself to fall in love with the effort every day? Please leave me a comment and let me know!

Remember: It’s not easy for anyone. Everyone has their Everest. But waving a magic wand to make it go away is not what will make you happy. Climbing it will! So let’s get out there and break a sweat!