‘Hard’ work

Most things aren’t as hard as we think they are.

‘Hard’ often replaces words like ‘new’, ‘unfamiliar’, ‘unknown’, and ‘different’. For example:

• Persistent problems: If a business tries and fails to solve a problem, it becomes ‘hard’, even though there are people available to solve it for them, or show them how.
• New challenges: If a teammate takes on another responsibility that has lots new of moving parts to it, it’s deemed ‘hard’, even though it’s well-defined and comes with plenty of training.

There are ‘hard’ things out there. Fighting a war. Losing a family member. Grievous manual labor. But learning a new skill? Or consulting about a business problem?

Think about the ‘hard’ work ahead of you. How could redefining it from ‘hard’ to ‘new’, ‘unfamiliar’, ‘unknown’, or ‘different’ change the way you tackle (and feel about) that work?