This is one of my favorite days in the book. My worldview and life changed for the better when I began to believe that life is designed to be hard. I used to run from anything hard. Now I run into a few things that are hard. I still run from lots of hard things that don’t mean anything to me. I run away from hard labor and into hard OPUS. What about you?
BUILT TO LEAD 
Sitting alone, reflecting, and writing are extremely hard for me. Dissecting and defining my beliefs, asking why, and going deeper is hard for me. I want the results of a strong BTL CORE, but I’m realizing the work needed for this is real, hard work. Sitting and writing doesn’t usually feel productive in the moment and I can’t always feel the progress being made. For much of my life I have measured progress and productivity with movement and being busy. This may lead to things getting done and advancements being made, but it does not lead to building a strong CORE.
I’m choosing to do the hard work now, in hopes to become more and more of myself. Shifting my perspective from “this is hard” to “this is hardening me.” I don’t need the easier path, I need to become a more hardened man with a thick skin and a soft hard. Hard on self but not down on self. Self-focused and CORE-centered. In order to do hard things well, I first must do them not so well. Writing and reflecting are hard, and I am currently doing them not so well. One day, I’ll be harder and writing and reflecting will be easier.
Damn, Ryan, you are inspiring me. Keep working. Live hard. Love harder. Thanks for joining us on the climb…
Hard is good. Extreme hard is extremely good. Insane hard is insanely good. I worked hard for many years, then retired at age 42 to coast through life. But I learned the only direction we can coast is down hill. That is when BTL taught me to return to the hard… to intensify the hard… to laser focus the hard… and to embrace with joy the pain and discipline of the hard. Now, soon to be 62 years old… I am approaching the halfway point of my life. And l excitedly anticipate 62 more years of extreme freakin insane hard… pursuing the beautiful pain of disciplined pursuit of OPUS and the thrill of life. And this I will continue until I eventually die from an overdose of life.
Going deeper on who I am has been and will continue to be real hard work. Knowing what direction to take with life’s changing seasons is real hard work. Knowing God has plans for me to discover and pursue sustains my perspiration…but it’s real hard. I want the answers, the path, now. I know it will only be revealed with continual, day after day, hard work. I’ll just keep giving and serving wherever I am able.
Knowing I am being forged and hardened makes it worthwhile.
Two events in my early 40s have shaped the rest of my life. My grandmother heard me complain about being old (she was in her 80s) and assured me that “the second 40 years are way better than the first 40.” That gave me hope.
The second was the realization that I did not have my shit together even though I was CEO of a successful manufacturing business with factories in four states. The impact of my family’s dysfunction bit me in the ass in my early 40s when my wife left me. It’s a long story, but the thing I learned, through hours and hours of psychotherapy with some very wise men, was to move toward the pain, not away from it. The resolution comes by moving into and through the pain, not running from it. You don’t win the battle in retreat, you win by fighting the battle.
I think that was the beginning of my journey, up until then I was running from myself, from life. The realization that life was designed to be hard and would be found by embracing the pain has shaped my journey for the past 30 years. Like most mortals, I haven’t instinctively or immediately embraced pain and difficulty, and have missed some significant opportunities to learn and grow. Reflection and persistence have served me well. Forgiveness is indispensable, for myself and for others. My grandmother was right.
Hard. Good. Thanks, Ed…