A Letter from Chris Suarez
“Hey Grant and Gary, Please Stop.”
Is anyone else tired of the choose hard, keep grinding, and 10X message that surrounds us? “Influencers” fill your stories, new feeds, reels, and TikTok. They even built a Clubhouse in your front yard. If you aren’t tired of the message then I’m certain you are exhausted by trying to live up to it and into it.
There is a constant push to choose the hard thing, do the hard thing, and master the hard thing. That message isn’t physically healthy. That message isn’t emotionally healthy. That message isn’t psychologically healthy.
I’d suggest we choose the easy thing, do the easy thing, and master the easy thing. Once you do, then you can go ahead and work hard at it.
Choose easy and work hard.
Is there a catch? Sure. No matter how difficult something is, when we love doing it, it will become easy.
There is a big difference between doing the hard thing and doing the difficult thing.
Hard
adjective
/härd/
done with a great deal of force or strength, something resistant to one's efforts or one's endurance
Difficult
adjective
/ˈdifəkəlt/
needing much effort or skill to accomplish, deal with, or to understand.
The difference is not just semantics. The world is trying to convince us that in order to be successful we must push or force or drive against a constant resistance. It’s the definition of hard.
Choosing easy doesn’t mean that what we are doing doesn’t take incredible skill, focused effort, or understanding. It’s actually the definition of difficult.
The message out there seems to be one of just powering through the hard thing relentlessly. Just showing up hour after hour after hour to do hard work. We have no shortage of hard things to tackle in our typical day, week, month or year. We have been bombarded with hard for over a year now. Why look for more?
We have allowed a culture to slip into the business world, at times our personal world, and definitely, our often fake, social media world. It’s a culture of doing “the hard thing.” A culture of grinding, of 24/7, of late nights and early mornings, of 10X-ing everything.
A couple years ago I became fascinated with how the Industrial Revolution completely reshaped American history, culture, and I believe self-worth as we know it.
Many of our modern companies were born out of the Industrial Revolution, when their entire reason for existence was to achieve and increase efficiency. Machines were invented and developed to do what only human hands and muscles did previously. As these machines began to do the same jobs that men used to do, family providers decided they needed to work harder, start earlier, get home later, skip lunch - all to beat the unmatched efficiency of the machine. The newspapers said that machines were replacing people, and so men and women everywhere took their stand. They said, “heck no”. I’ll work harder. I’ll double my effort. I’ll triple my output. Women rolled up their sleeves and laced up their boots and joined men in the factories (often outworking them), because perhaps two working people could match the output of the machine, thus keeping themselves employed and putting food on the table for their family. Schools were opened to make sure that someone was there to teach children how to read and write and do math since no-one was home to do so. It was a losing battle.
Humans couldn’t produce at the same level as a machine. They couldn’t push as hard, pull as quickly, run as fast, or work as relentlessly. They went to work exhausted and came home dejected. They began to feel worthless, and factory owners treated their machines as more valuable.
But we’ve progressed. We’ve had the Science Revolution and the Digital Revolution. And yet that culture continues. Perhaps a bit more subtle. Perhaps slightly more glamorous as influences take the main stage and fill arenas with the same message - push harder, run faster, be relentless.
When will that testosterone filled, competition addicting, ego boosting message end? Ever notice that all of those Instagram reels, Facebook stories, and YouTube videos are filmed from some private jet, the back of a special edition custom vehicle, their 45th floor penthouse, or some 14,000 sq ft oceanfront estate? Throw in some shocking vocabulary and call it good. Why? Well clearly, they need you to know they were just willing to work harder.
Choosing easy doesn’t mean that life will be easy, or that accomplishing anything is easy. However, if we are going to choose anything to wake up and do every day, why choose hard? Why not choose something that comes easy. Choose something that feels like play every day. Remember, play has its own challenges.
I think of the baseball player facing that difficult curveball pitcher. The tennis player going up against the opponent with a killer serve. The family that spends the weekend huddled over that frustrating 10,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. Or the few remaining masochists like myself that do the New York Times crossword puzzle. Choosing easy doesn’t mean that you are not willing to be challenged, take on frustration, or even feel overwhelmed at times. But it means you love what you are doing, and can do it over a sustained period of time.
Sure, the Gary V’s of the word and Grant Cardone’s of the world have many millions of “followers” and “fans”. But so does McDonalds. They sell over 2.3 billion burgers a year and no one actually believes they are good for you. They may taste good going down, but the side effects can be long term. The same can be true of the work culture we surround ourselves with if we are not careful.
Do we all need to work hard? Without a doubt. But work hard doing what you love. Suddenly life will seem just a little easier.
Chris
