Why Doing Hard Things Gets Easier (And How to Start Today)
Learn to embrace discomfort, overcome resistance, and become the person who does hard things consistently.
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There’s a moment that happens when you’re about to do something difficult. You feel it in your chest, that little tightening. Your brain starts offering you perfectly reasonable excuses. “Maybe later.” “You’re not ready.” “What if you fail?”
And most of the time, we listen. We choose the easier path. The comfortable option. The thing that doesn’t make us uncomfortable.
Here’s what I’ve learned: that moment, that choice, is everything. Not because doing one hard thing changes your life. But because the habit of choosing hard things does.
The Comfort Trap
We’ve built a world designed to make everything as easy as possible. One-click ordering. Endless entertainment at our fingertips. Algorithms that show us exactly what we already like. We can go days, weeks, maybe months without doing anything genuinely difficult.
And we think that’s winning. We think that’s the good life.
But here’s the problem: when you spend all your time in the comfort zone, the comfort zone shrinks. Things that used to be normal start feeling hard. A slightly awkward conversation becomes something to avoid. A small challenge becomes overwhelming. Your capacity for difficulty atrophies like a muscle you never use.
I watched this happen to myself during a period where I’d optimized my life for maximum comfort. I worked from home, ordered food in, binged shows, avoided anything that felt remotely uncomfortable. And weirdly, I became more anxious, not less. Because when everything feels hard, everything becomes stressful.
The paradox is that avoiding hard things doesn’t make life easier. It makes everything harder.
What "Hard Things" Actually Means
Let’s be clear about what we’re talking about here. Doing hard things doesn’t mean suffering for the sake of suffering. It doesn’t mean being miserable or punishing yourself or bragging about how little sleep you got.
Hard things are the things that matter to you but require effort. The things you avoid not because they’re impossible, but because they’re uncomfortable.
Having the conversation you’ve been putting off. Starting the project you’re scared to fail at. Going to the gym when you really don’t feel like it. Sitting down to write when every word feels like pulling teeth. Saying no when yes would be easier. Apologizing when you were wrong.
These aren’t heroic acts. They’re just the normal friction of growth and progress. But most people spend enormous energy avoiding them.
The David Goggins Principle
David Goggins talks about this concept he calls the “40% rule.” The idea is that when your mind is telling you you’re done, you’re really only 40% spent. You have 60% more in the tank, but your brain is trying to protect you from discomfort.
Now, I’m not suggesting you push yourself to injury or burnout. That’s not the point. The point is that our brains are hardwired to avoid discomfort, even when that discomfort is actually good for us. Our internal alarm system goes off way before we’re in actual danger.
Goggins himself went from being nearly 300 pounds, working as an exterminator, to becoming a Navy SEAL and ultramarathon runner. Not because he suddenly got talented. Because he built the habit of doing hard things even when every part of him wanted to quit.
"The only way you're ever going to get to the other side of this journey is by suffering. You have to suffer in order to grow. Some people get it, some people don't."
Building the Muscle
The habit of doing hard things is exactly that: a habit. Which means it’s something you can practice and get better at.
Start small. I mean really small. You don’t need to run an ultramarathon or completely transform your life tomorrow. You need to do one uncomfortable thing today.
Take a cold shower. Have the conversation you’ve been avoiding. Work on the project for 15 minutes even though you don’t feel like it. Say what you actually think instead of what you think people want to hear.
The specific thing matters less than the practice of choosing discomfort. You’re training your brain that uncomfortable doesn’t mean dangerous. You’re proving to yourself that you can do things even when you don’t feel like it.
I started this practice with something stupidly simple: making my bed every morning. Not because making your bed changes your life (though it does start your day with a small win), but because it was something I didn’t want to do. It was a tiny act of choosing discipline over comfort. That tiny act made the next hard thing slightly easier.
The Compounding Effect of Hard
Here’s where it gets interesting: doing hard things compounds.
Each time you choose the difficult path, you’re not just accomplishing that one thing. You’re building evidence that you’re the kind of person who does hard things. You’re reinforcing a different story about yourself.
And that story changes what you think is possible.
Jocko Willink, retired Navy SEAL commander, lives this principle. His alarm goes off at 4:30 a.m. every single day. Does he always want to get up? Of course not. But he does it anyway because “discipline equals freedom.”
"You wake up early and you work out, you get a jump on the enemy."
That first hard thing in the morning sets the tone for everything else. It’s not about the workout. It’s about proving to yourself that you can do uncomfortable things.
Think about someone you admire who’s achieved something significant. I guarantee they have a relationship with discomfort that most people don’t. Not because they’re special, but because they’ve practiced choosing hard over easy enough times that it became their default.
The Resistance is the Point
Steven Pressfield wrote a whole book about this concept he calls “Resistance.” It’s that force that keeps you from doing your work, from taking the risk, from doing the hard thing. It shows up as procrastination, self-doubt, distraction, and a thousand reasonable excuses.
"The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it."
Read that again. The things you’re most resistant to? Those are probably the things you most need to do.
That tightening in your chest when you think about doing something hard? That’s not a warning sign. That’s a compass pointing you toward growth.
Most people treat resistance as a reason to stop. But what if you treated it as a signal that you’re headed in the right direction?
What Happens When You Don't
Let me paint a picture of the alternative. You avoid hard conversations, so small resentments build into relationship-ending problems. You avoid difficult projects, so your skills stagnate while others pass you by. You avoid uncomfortable workouts, so your body slowly breaks down. You avoid financial hard truths, so your debt compounds.
The hard things don’t go away because you avoid them. They just get harder.
And worse, you start to believe that you’re the kind of person who can’t do hard things. That story becomes your identity. And identities are really hard to change.
I had a moment a few years ago where I realized I’d been avoiding everything difficult for so long that I’d lost confidence in my ability to handle anything. A simple phone call felt overwhelming. A minor conflict felt insurmountable. I’d trained myself to be fragile.
The way back wasn’t dramatic. It was just consistently choosing the slightly harder thing. Again and again. Until I rebuilt trust with myself.
The Freedom in Discipline
Here’s the counterintuitive truth: doing hard things actually makes life easier.
When you have hard conversations early, relationships get easier. When you do difficult work consistently, projects get easier. When you exercise regularly, daily life gets easier. When you face problems head-on, everything else gets easier.
Discipline and freedom aren’t opposites. Discipline creates freedom.
The person who drags themselves to the gym even when they don’t want to has the freedom of a strong, capable body. The person who does difficult creative work consistently has the freedom of a growing career. The person who has uncomfortable conversations has the freedom of honest relationships.
Meanwhile, the person who always chooses comfort is trapped. Trapped by declining health, stagnant skills, superficial relationships, and mounting problems they’re too afraid to face.
Start Today
You don’t need to overhaul your entire life. You don’t need to become David Goggins or Jocko Willink. You just need to do one hard thing today.
What’s the thing you’ve been avoiding? The conversation, the project, the decision, the workout, the difficult choice? That’s your starting point.
Not tomorrow. Not when you feel ready. Not when conditions are perfect. Today. Now.
Because here’s the truth: you’re never going to feel like doing hard things. That feeling you’re waiting for? It doesn’t come. You just do it anyway.
And then you do it again tomorrow. And the next day. And slowly, doing hard things stops being this monumental act of willpower. It just becomes who you are.
The person who does hard things.
That’s the habit worth building. Because everything else you want in life? It’s on the other side of hard.
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Mustafiz Man
GoHighLevel & Paid Ads Specialist