Life is Difficult.
M. SCOTT PECK · A ROAD LESS TRAVELED · 1978
“Life is difficult.”
The entire first paragraph. That’s it. Three words.
Over 10 million copies sold. Still in print 45 years later. Because those three words changed something in people that nothing else could touch.
I was still putting Humpty Dumpty back together – pouring myself into every book I could find, trying to BUILD a better version of me, when I picked up A Road Less Traveled.
I read the first line. I put the book down. I stared at the wall for a minute.
Not because it was complicated. Because it was profound, like James Allen in As a Man Thinketh, and Jocko’s “Good” I later found. Peck’s three words ended the argument.
Life is difficult.
Not for me specifically. Just, for everyone. Always. The moment I stopped fighting that truth, I could stop asking: why is this so hard…and start asking: what am I going to build with it.
So what…divorces are hard… change is hard… I could sit in the negativity, complain and criticize for years, or I could use it as fuel to build better. That choice changed everything.
Peck’s second sentence hit just as hard.
“This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult, once we truly understand and accept it, then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact of difficulty no longer matters.”
– Dr. M. Scott Peck, A Road Less Traveled
Read that again. The acceptance is the answer. Not the end of the hard things, the end of being surprised by them. The end of resisting them. The end of wasting energy on the question of why is this so hard and the beginning of just getting after it.
HARD IS THE ONLY OPTION · SO CHOOSE YOUR HARD
Being financially disciplined is hard.
Being fit is hard.
Being successful is hard.
Great relationships are hard.
Growing is hard.
THIS IS ALSO HARD:
Being broke is hard.
Being sick is hard.
Staying stuck is hard.
Loneliness is hard.
Staying the same is hard.
Pick your hard, then Lead…. Anyone can lead, Own It!
Peck names what separates people who grow from people who don’t: responsibility. He’s direct, most people spend their lives moaning incessantly about their problems, himself (and me!) included. Not because the problems aren’t real, but because complaining, criticizing, and gossiping is easier than owning what’s yours to fix. Responsibility means stepping toward the difficulty instead of narrating it. Nobody is coming to make it easier first.
“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”
– Marcus Aurelius
THIS WEEK: SIT WITH THIS
Where are you complaining instead of taking responsibility?
Not blaming yourself, just being honest. At work. At home. In your own head. Where are you moaning about a difficulty instead of picking it up and owning it?
Name the hard thing you’ve been waiting to start until conditions improve. Then ask: what if the conditions are already here, and the only thing missing is the decision to take responsibility for it?
Pick your hard. Take responsibility for it. Let’s get after it in life, family, and business.
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.”
– Joshua 1:9
God said this to Joshua the moment Moses died, leaving Joshua to lead two million people into a land of fortified cities and armies stronger than anything they’d faced. The most impossible assignment imaginable. God didn’t promise it would be easy. He commanded Joshua to step into it anyway. Same command stands today.
Lots of love, Nate
