Just because people give advice a lot does not make it good advice. We have that habit. If something sounds good, then we parrot it. Then after more and more people say it, over time, we think it’s true. It doesn’t make it so.
For example, we have heard for years that “If you do something you love, you will never work another day in your life.” That sounds great! It foreshadows a magical day where life will never be hard. We will never be stressed. And, once we find our “calling,” everything in life will snap into place for life of eternal bliss.
It’s also crap.
In his book “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F%$K,” Mark Manson got it right. He said that successful people don’t find that magical utopia. They are not always smarter or better looking or more talented. It’s not about a calling.
Manson says that successful people “have decided what they are willing to suffer through.”
This might sound negative, but trust me, it’s not. The fact is, regardless of how much you love what you do, or how much you want to achieve your goals, there will come a time that it will be hard. There will be a time when it sucks. To say that it won’t is a lie.
That is why “you’ll never work another day in your life” is terrible advice. It’s set up an entire generation of people to say “well it’s hard, so this must not be my calling.” Or “it must not be God’s will.” Or whatever built in excuse we mention when things get hard. And trust me, when it gets hard, the excuses in our heads will get really loud!
As Manson said, successful people know that at some point it’s going to suck. They have decided to keep going anyway. It’s worth it to them. And when you do the work of suffering through the tough parts, the tough parts become less tough.
The analogy I use is training for a marathon. When I decided to run a marathon, I knew there would be times that I would not enjoy it. I have never, in my life, wanted to run 19 miles. But I wanted to run a marathon. So I was willing to suffer through the training…so I could reach the goal. Then, along the way, I came to enjoy the long run. I enjoyed the solitude and the accomplishment.
I came to enjoy the suffering.
So regardless of your goal, or your dream or your purpose, there will come a time that it is a struggle. That’s okay. You just need to decide if you are willing to suffer through the hard times…to get to the other side.
Kirby Hasseman is the CEO of Hasseman Marketing, a full service marketing agency located in Ohio. Learn more about Hasseman Marketing here. And if you are interested in have him speak at your next event, you can learn more here.
