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In my last post, Learning to love struggle and positive addictions I spoke about some things that I genuinely love even though others might find them difficult.
We all have areas of our life that come easy… maybe for you it’s working out and going to the gym, or maybe it’s that you love to cook or you find being in relationships easy. For others, those same areas may be a struggle. They are great in school but really struggle to be motivated to go to the gym.
It’s funny, sometimes the thing you want most and is the area you put most effort in, is the area you see the least progress in.
You desperately want a relationship… and no matter what you try you can’t seem to make it work.
You know you want to be healthier but it’s been such a challenge to follow through on routines or diet or fitness.
What if it’s the struggle that’s preventing you from getting what you want?
If you began to enjoy this area of your life more, might you have more fun, and possibly more success in truly getting what you want?
Here’s what a reader asked me after my latest post.
J.L. Asks…
I love the idea of using love to transform struggle. Reminds me of this idea that we can value something but not live in alignment with that.I’d be curious what techniques you’ve used to learn to love something besides just telling yourself to love it!
What techniques are there for learning to love an area you’ve struggled in?
The simplest way is to look for the moments you do enjoy related to the activity.
Do you enjoy the satisfaction of being done?
Do you enjoy the excitement leading up to something even though it's scary?
Do you love it when you occasionally break through the struggle of writing and hit a flow state for 20 min?
It’s easy to blanket the statement “I don’t like this” or “I am bad at…” but is that true?
Which part of the process does resonate with you?
Find and pursue that.
I was in the sauna yesterday before I got into the cold plunge and I realized that so many people look at the cold plunge and think "UGH how do people do that, that would suck so bad."
And I was genuinely excited about jumping in soon because it's exciting before you get in, and you feel so good after you get out. I couldn’t wait to go jump in to 45 degree water! I don't love being in the water but I love the anticipation and feeling I get afterwards.
When I focus there, the whole process is much easier. I don’t look forward to all of it but I focus on what I do look forward to.
What techniques do you have for transforming areas of your life you previously found so difficult?
If you’re building a million-dollar-plus company, you’ll probably need to talk at some point about the things no one prepares you for – the emotional, personal, and energetic challenges of scaling a business.
🏹 I partner with founders hitting big milestones—scaling, hiring execs, raising money, and selling their company to get clarity on what they want and how to build and expand their business in a way that works for them.
