The Hard Things About Hard Things.

The hardest part of most hard endeavours is showing up consistently, especially when the going gets tough, as they often will. There is a reason why we admire people who play or operate at the highest level of their craft or profession. For instance, young college basketball players hope to get drafted by an NBA team every year, but only a few would make it. Approximately 500,000+ high students will play basketball in any given period, and only around 16,000 will appear in any of the three college basketball divisions. Eventually, just 110 will make at least one NBA appearance.

According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) stats, only about 1.2% of all college players get drafted by an NBA team. Getting into an NBA team is extremely tough, as the perks of getting drafted are enormous. Many factors determine who gets drafted by an NBA team, such as height, athletic ability, training, focus, determination and a bit of luck. The average annual salary for an NBA player is over 10 million U.S. dollars for the 2023/24 season, with the league’s minimum salary set at 1.12 million U.S. dollars that year.

Just like the NBA example points out, operating at the highest level of any profession requires a relentless pursuit of a goal, such as getting drafted. It takes a lot of hard work, perseverance and consistency to be among the top 1% of any profession. Whether it is trying to speak a foreign language, run a sub-3 hours marathon, master a programming language, or start and run a profitable business, one has got to keep going, especially when the going gets tough. Hard things are hard because they are hard and most of us give up at the first sign of obstacles, challenges and struggles. It is part of solving hard things; the obstacle is the way.

Meditations

Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt – Closing Words

Setting an intention is like drawing an arrow from the quiver of your heart. – Bruce Black

Daily Jay with Jay Shetty – All or Nothing

We mostly characterise life in extremes, we hardly approach things with nuance. It is natural to think in superlatives but when we do that, we downplay the value of making progress on our path. We discount the slow build and the fact that relationships can blossom over time. We dismiss the idea that it is perfectly ok to be adequate in many areas of life. Wearing rose coloured glasses can make us overlook red flags or areas where we can improve.

Stay open to nuance, shade of greys, noting is a way to detach from your experience, to view it with clarity and composure; which can stop you from judgment or analysis and instead help you see things as they truly are. Change starts with awareness.

Daily Trip with Jeff Warren – Inside Things

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