Why “Easy” Can Go Piss Up a Rope


Ok, fine, “easy” as a concept isn’t inherently bad, but our current obsession with it absolutely is.

We spend so much time and energy trying to make everything in our lives as easy as making a ham sandwich that we lose out on the value of engaging in legitimately difficult things. Imagine where we’d be if all of the pioneers in computer science had decided that the really cool idea they had would be way too damn hard to implement and that they’d rather just crack open a cold one and watch LOST (or the equivalent). Aside from the fact that neither this Web site nor the device you’re using to read this would exist, we’d still be driving to the bank to deposit money, schlepping our big bags of undeveloped film to the photo-mat and we’d be bored out of our skin on line at the grocery store because we wouldn’t have Angry Birds. It’d suck. Thankfully, though, it doesn’t because these smart guys and gals decided that they’d rather kick “hard” in the nads than sit around withering.

Now, like I said before, I’m all for certain things being easy (like making a ham sandwich). Hell, I’m fine with anything you hate doing being easy. But, at some point, your body and brain are going to atrophy if you don’t put them to work. So, the trick is to find something hard that you actually enjoy and then do the crap out of that thing.

For me (believe it or not), one of my “hard” things is writing. It’s not because I’m necessarily trying to overcome a spectacular lack of writing ability, but I’m just not one of those people that can churn out thousands of quality words per day (at least, not without a great deal of effort). But, despite all that, I really love writing and I know that the only way to improve is to do it. So, I do. There are plenty of times when I hit a stride and the words seem to pour effortlessly from my brain to the keyboard. There are also times when I feel like this:

I attack this problem by planting my ass in the chair and writing as often as I am able. Even if, by all accounts, I’m stinking up the whole room, I sit and I do. I do because I promised myself that I was going to give this my very best effort and my very best effort doesn’t watch American Idol or whatever.

Your “hard” thing could be anything: building model ships, preparing a competition-grade Beef Wellington, eating your own weight in dry cat food or writing and selling an electronic book. It doesn’t really matter so long as you actually give a crap about doing it well, even if it’s going to be a big challenge for you. Much like my unrelenting desire to not suck at writing, you must be driven by a desire to win/complete/succeed. I don’t mean that in the “kill anybody in your path” sort of way, but rather that you decide that you’re going to see something through, regardless of the difficulty. Often times this even means committing to accomplishing something about which you’re utterly unsure of your own ability. That’s part of what makes “hard” so damn satisfying.

And remember, most easy things are easy precisely because a long time ago somebody decided that they’d break their back to make that very thing as easy as it is.

What’s your hard thing?

Photo by mckaysavage

Trackbacks

  1. of users.among the various seo tools and…

    strategies, link building is essential for good website page ranking. if you create content that appeals to social media users and that content becomes popular on high traffic social sites, your website or blog will be linked to from numerous sites…

  2. past posts like what you wrote, they…

    are more likely to read your new post and re visit your site. the same is advised if you have a facebook fan page. interacting regularly with other pages creates a friendship that will help you to ‘go places.’as for the…

  3. time in class to meet with peers…

    so that you can read each other’s work, make suggestions, and otherwise help one another with the writing process. if you aren’t given this time in class, think about getting together with one or more classmates on your own. a second…

  4. to realize the benefits of blogging. if…

    you want to write quality blog posts and increase your readership, i suggest that you follow a very specific plan. if you can stay motivated and write many posts per week, i can guarantee you that you won’t be disappointed.here’s what…

  5. data says:

    to solve that problem. we all have…

    problems in one way or another. so by giving a solution to a problem in your niche you are assured to satisfy your readers’ appetite.use mediawe all eat with our eyes in this wonderful world of writing, when you insert pictures…

  6. about different subjects or stray off-topic from…

    time to time in order to seem more personable. no one understands the process of writing a successful blog better than blog post writers for hire, and these individuals guarantee that readers will keep coming back again and again in order…

  7. web users are easily redirected to the…

    material. often a company wants to promote products or services, but must compete with hundreds of other businesses online. knowing where to place key or searched words within the text and knowing the proper length is one aspect. the other is…

  8. my website says:

    fluency that will keep the reader glued…

    to the website till they complete reading the article. one of the misconceptions with many critics and experts is that a native writer will always be the better prospect which is not true. though native writers may come up with a…

  9. click here says:

    point across. writing a blog post doesn’t…

    have to be a difficult thing to accomplish. just remember that if the information is helpful, chances are that people could benefit from it.conduct an interview with an expert in your niche. there is no better way to establish credibility than…

  10. internet services are available on 24 hour…

    basis. for a business, a blog post is a necessity as it attracts clients. however, the quality of your blog plays a crucial role in determining whether you will thrive online or not. note that, seo is an important part of…

  11. with my laptop and lots of coffee….

    think about where you will be the most productive? maybe it’s in your office room, kitchen? wherever you chose, just make sure that you are not going to be disturbed and that you are inspired to write beautiful content.how fast can…

  12. are formatting your blog posts. do you…

    want them to read another post? do you want them to go to your capture page? do you want them to subscribe to your rss feed? what do you want them to do? here are a few things to keep in…

  13. writing opportunities available to the writer who…

    has great skills. in fact, you can become an accomplished writer in no time at all.you’ll need to begin by determining what type of writing you do best. then you’ll want to think about whether there’s a specific topic you like…

  14. to become so successful in your niche….

    you’ll generally want to keep this a positive profile, while leaning towards the neutral side.interview someonefind someone who you are interested in and invite them in for an interview. you can even do your interview via e-mail. if they are intereste…

  15. when you’ll have to come up with…

    some “good writing” or risk being a failure, you can think of it as something much greater than that: you’re there to discover the riches your imagination will freely offer once you learn to trust.creative trust: how to get startedyour imagination…

  16. promote your blog and get the most…

    out of it. as a direct seller, it really helps to drive traffic to your site so you can gain exposure and potentially get new customers as well. there is nothing worse than sitting down to write an article, a blog…

  17. symptoms of low vit d…

    Keep working ,remarkable job!…

  18. to your business and clients.entrust yourself to…

    the upkeep of your blog. you can start to put more effort, for at least one blog post per week then work your way up.#3 blogging mistake- not connecting with your readers another mistake that a blogger makes is to misunderstand…

  19. best dating sites…

    Thank you for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do a little research on this. We got a grab a book from our area library but I think I learned more clear from this post. I’m very glad to see such excellent info being sha…

  20. free dating site…

    It is really a nice and helpful piece of info. I am glad that you shared this useful info with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing….

  21. dating personals…

    I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you make this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to design my own blog and would like to find out where u got this from. many thanks…

  22. popular dating sites…

    Heya i am for the first time here. I found this board and I find It truly useful & it helped me out a lot. I hope to give something back and help others like you aided me….

  23. dating services…

    I like the valuable information you provide in your articles. I๏ฟฝll bookmark your weblog and check again here frequently. I am quite certain I will learn many new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!…

  24. click here says:

    christian dating site…

    What i do not understood is actually how you are not really much more well-liked than you may be now. You’re so intelligent. You realize therefore considerably relating to this subject, produced me personally consider it from numerous varied angles. I…

  25. customers to a website. not everyone can…

    write such material and as a result, writers are hired.it is important to realize that online content writing is not as simple as people may think it to be. content developers are trained on a number of different topics so that…

  26. well millions of people who have put…

    solutions to these problems on the internet and among the people who put the solutions on the internet is you. now, how can you make sure that your answer in the form of a blog post get read and action is…

  27. of plug ins available. plugins are small…

    software applications that you could literally ‘plugin’ in your blog by only a couple of clicks of the mouse, anyone are able to use them, where there are probably ten’s of thousands of them available for every single imaginable need, and…

  28. website says:

    the copyright of the work is a…

    defensive turnoff that makes it sound like you think the publisher is going to steal your work.write an engaging opening sentence or paragraph about your book: keep the opening brief, and focus on the conflict, suspense, or cliffhanger. a bad opening…

  29. twenty minutes. therefore, it is necessary that…

    you do not exceed it over five hundred words. along with that, the best article writer always concentrates well on the quality of the article. so make sure that the quality is not sacrificed.review your saved ideaskeep the list of ideas…

  30. Find Out More…

    [...]Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you writing this post plus the rest of the website is also very good.[...]…

  31. beginning. most traditionally published non-fiction authors will…

    come up with an idea for a book, and maybe write a chapter or two just as a writing sample, and then submit a proposal for the book to the publisher to find out whether the publisher is interested and will…

  32. black birkin says:

    writing consistently you will be amazed at…

    how many ideas you come up with. writing breeds creativity-it is a natural side effect. when you start waking up at 3 a.m. with ideas or you’re dreaming about writing, you’re on the right track. don’t stop! you now have momentum…

  33. omega 3 adhd says:

    Home Page…

    [...]one of our visitors a short while ago proposed the following website[...]…

  34. hire a programmer wisely. usually you can…

    get it made for pennies on the dollar unless it’s very heavy coding, but again, avoid heavy applications when starting out.2. power blogsmost people already know how blogs are big for driving traffic. but what a lot will miss out is…

  35. associated with your name and this establishes…

    your name on the internet. by submitting your articles to sites like ezinearticles, articlesbase, goarticles, amazines and many more, webmasters will carry your articles. the sweetest part of it is that when your name is typed into a search engine, tho…

  36. ipad says:

    will determine how much money you can…

    make with this method but it’s something that you can try to see how it goes for you. it could be a good option that brings in some extra cash. sell advertising space- if you get a lot of traffic to…

  37. Full Report…

    [...]Oh my goodness! Awesome article dude! Many thanks, However I am having problems with your RSS. I don’t understand the reason why I cannot subscribe to it. Is there anybody else getting the same RSS issues? Anyone that knows the solution will you k…

  38. I was here before…

    [...]After I originally commented I seem to have clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and from now on whenever a comment is added I receive four emails with the exact same comment. Perhaps there is an easy method you can remove …

  39. you are new website or blog owner,…

    you already know it can be a real challenge to drive continuous traffic to your online platform.however, if you want to earn money from your website or blog, you need to not only direct steady traffic to your online platform, but…

  40. Titanic says:

    but just because they are cheap doesn’t…

    mean that they aren’t good. just because you find a cheap host doesn’t always mean it’s the best one for you and that’s why Titanic you should research and find the top ten blog hosts online. below you’ll find ten of the…

  41. Nice post. Thx!…

    [...]Way cool! Some very valid points! I appreciate you writing this write-up plus the rest of the website is extremely good.[...]…

  42. Get the facts…

    [...]Hello! I just want to give you a big thumbs up for your great info you have right here on this post. I am returning to your site for more soon.[...]…

  43. Macbook says:

    the plan in mind. try to work…

    with an seo web writer that can help you with this part of the project make sure that the plan includes back linking and some sort of method for keeping your site among the top search results of google. in the…

  44. raised endlessly in places like linkedin and…

    other social networks, including twitter. people who are new to blogging also wonder which is the best system to use. so, they may go to review sites which list the best blogging programs and services to find out more. you’ll also…

  45. if a video that you upload to…

    youtube is around 100mb big… it’s going to take a long time for that 1 video to upload. and by the time you’ve Titanic finished uploading all of your videos, you will have to wait in the same way while you submit…

  46. Chanel says:

    Websites we think you should visit…

    [...]although websites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we feel they are actually worth a go through, so have a look[...]……

  47. Read This…

    [...]I really love your website.. Excellent colors & theme. Did you build this site yourself? Please reply back as I’m looking to create my own personal site and want to know where you got this from or exactly what the theme is called. Cheers![...]…

  48. love tips says:

    Full Report…

    [...]Oh my goodness! Amazing article dude! Thank you so much, However I am having difficulties with your RSS. I don’t understand why I cannot subscribe to it. Is there anyone else having identical RSS issues? Anyone who knows the solution will you kind…