Brian Grubernek breaks down the idea that life gives you hard choices either way: you can do the hard work now (exercise, budget, apologize, build your business) or face the harder consequences later (poor health, debt, loneliness, stagnation). Pick which hard you want.
What's up, No Days Off Nation? My name's Caitlin Saunders, and we are so glad you're here with us today. We welcomed a lot of new No Days Off listeners over the last couple of months, so we wanted to take a few days to reshare some of our most listened to episodes to date, and these ones happen to be some of our fan favorites. We hope you enjoy.
Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Grubernek, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast. Where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Better at business, better at our health, better at wealth, better at our relationships, just better at life. And today's topic is choosing your hard. Choose your hard. And choosing your hard, that motivational phrase has a direct impact on all of those areas I just mentioned. And choosing your hard will lead to a better life. Now, what do I mean when I talk about that phrase? Many of you have probably heard it before, as it's a motivational phrase that I've heard others use in the personal growth space before over the years. And what it's all about— what the phrase emphasizes— the idea that we consciously get to select the challenges or the difficulties that we face in life. It encourages us as individuals to recognize that both easy and difficult paths in life have their own set of challenges, and it's up to us to decide which challenges are worth pursuing. The phrase suggests that life's going to present challenges regardless of the choices we make, so we get to choose our hard. So whether we choose to pursue ambitious goals or weak ones, whether we choose to improve our health or not care, or build meaningful relationships or just have marginal relationships. Whatever the choices are that we make, there's going to be hard components of those choices. So we get to choose which direction, which hard makes the most sense for us. Each of these paths are going to come with their own set of difficulties and obstacles. So let me give you some examples around what I mean. Let's talk about health. It is freaking hard to eat nearly perfect every single day. It is hard to wake up in the morning and train and work out. It is hard to leave a party or an event early so you can get the right sleep. It's hard to stretch regularly. It's hard to stay hydrated. It's hard to do these things. I'll tell you what's harder. Being unhealthy. Not being able to live the life that you want to live because you're not physically able to do it. Not being able to have the experiences that you want to have because years down the road you just don't have the health to do it. I'll tell you what's hard— cutting your life short by decades because you opted not to take the other hard path, which is the healthy one. To me, that's freaking hard. How about your wealth? It's hard looking at your net worth statement every month, especially if things are not going the right direction. It's hard to budget. It's hard to underwrite and study investments nonstop, looking for that perfect one. It's hard forgoing certain expenses and experiences for a brighter future, to save for a brighter future. These things are hard. I'll tell you what's harder. Being broke, being in a job for eternity because you haven't created the wealth to buy your freedom. I'll tell you what's hard, not being able to afford that trip or that vacation or that experience with your family or with someone that's meaningful to you. Those things are hard. How about in business, for example? In the sales business, we talk around lead generation. It is hard, man. It is hard to pick up a phone and call people that you don't already have a warm relationship with. Not only to call them, but it is hard to do it for a couple hours a day and hear no nonstop. I'll tell you what's harder, not knowing where your next paycheck's coming from, not having a clue what you're gonna do every day, not knowing if you could stay in this business because you don't have a pipeline. To me, that's way scarier than hearing no all of the time. For those building businesses, it's hard building a big business. It's hard thinking about people and leading and managing and being the one responsible for payroll and having things break on the regular. It is stressful. It is— there is anxiety. There are sleepless nights. That stuff is hard. I'll tell you what's harder though, in my opinion, building a small business. Why? Takes the same amount of effort, you just accomplish very little. Takes the same amount of effort, but you're not impacting as many people. You're not bringing people into your world, making them successful in their respective areas, which has an impact on their families. To me, that's harder. How about relationships? It is hard apologizing. It is hard accepting fault. You know, it is hard being purposeful and spending time with the people that matter. It's hard to do that in light of all the things we have going on. I'll tell you what's harder though— being a loner. What's harder is not having deep relationships. What's harder is, is not apologizing. And I think the hardest component of all that might be the regret that you have. That stuff's hard. So you get to choose your hard, right? No matter the decision, whatever may feel easy in the moment— and there are things that I just described, it is easy to hit the snooze button. It is easy to have that snack. It is easy to stay out a little later. Hell, it's more fun to do those things at times. It's easy to not generate business, right? It's easy to instead of apologize, just let time heal it. Those things are easy. But I'll tell you what, all of those easy decisions, I would bet you a lot of those times end up with harder consequences. So you get to choose your hard. So the focusing question today: what areas of your life right now might you be taking the easy route, and the harder path is probably the better one in the long term? What decisions do you need to make today where choosing your hard means really choosing the thing that's hard and not the thing that's easy in the moment. What do you have coming up? What do you have that you've made? What decision have you made recently where you look back at it and you're like, you know what, I went the easy route. I didn't go the hard route. I went the easy route. And can you unwind that, walk it back, and do it over? It's never too late on a lot of these things. So the focusing question: what action steps can you take today to choose your hard, the more meaningful one, the one that's going to pay dividends in the long term? That's all we have for today, the No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it. [MUSIC] [MUSIC]
Ep 755 | Mack Newton's Words of Wisdom - "You Are Only as Big as Your Self-Concept" (REPLAY)
