I’d like to introduce you to The Hard Thing Podcast.
This is the first post in a long journey.

On this journey, I hope to help many people, including myself drastically improve their lives by doing hard things.

I’d compare this journey to climbing a mountain. This is the bottom. I don’t see the exact trail all the way to the top, but I see the trailhead. It’s bound to be long, arduous and testing. I’d like to invite you to come with me.

On this journey, I hope that lives are changed, both mine and yours, and together we learn how to do Hard Things.

In this article, I’m going to explain what the journey entails and how I hope to help people change their lives. First, let me show you a problem I’ve noticed.

Observations

All of us look up to someone. Having examples of excellence is wonderful. The problem is when we don’t actively pursue our own excellence.

Have you ever noticed how some people struggle to find some sort of rhythm in their life, while others seem to naturally grow and progress?

The problem is that people are getting used to complacency and they are ok being a side character in someone else’s story.

I know a lot of people who struggle with being average. I myself struggle with feeling like I am in the dead middle of mediocrity.

When I say that, I mean to say that so many people around me don’t feel fulfillment, joy, mastery, or accomplishment.

Instead, they live life thinking that Netflix and Hulu are all they have to look forward to, and the only adventure they’ll ever have is the 10 minutes it takes to find the remote.

People need to reacquaint themselves with their true nature. As human beings, we have limitless potential. Our nature is not one of stagnation, complacency, or security. Our nature is one of conquest, adventure, victory, risk and reward, and hard things.

We have the potential to become meaningless and lackluster, but we have the potential to do great things and reach for excellence.

Norman Cousins said, “Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” I’ve noticed that so many people seem lost and dead inside.

I’ve seen too many friends and loved ones simply subsisting. They take simple pleasures here and there, but they never really find fulfillment.
That’s a big problem.

The world needs people, specifically men, to actualize their potential. The world needs people to live passionate and fulfilling lives. Primarily because there are so many problems that can be solved by these people, but also because it’s part of our purpose as human beings.

Our Mission

The mission of the Hard Thing is to provide people with the means to improve their lives by learning how to accomplish and do hard things.

You can imagine obstacles like a brick wall. On the other side of the brick wall, you’ll find every aspect of the life that you’d like to have. The only requirement of having that life is getting to the other side of that brick wall.

Break it down, go around it, go over it, or go under it, but get around the brick wall. That’s what we are here to help you do.

I believe that hard things are what stops most of us from taking that next step and unlocking that next level of potential. For some, it looks like fear, anxiety, self-doubt, or incompetence.

For others, it looks like an objective to accomplish, a battle to fight, or something to overcome.

Either way, these mountains stand before us, and at the top awaits a better, more fulfilling life, available to anyone willing enough to earn it by doing the hard thing Our goal is to help people make their way up that mountain and seize that reward.

Our Means

The Hard Thing will help people through two ways.
First, we intend to help them by giving them knowledge and wisdom. We hope to accomplish this primarily by interviewing people who have done hard things.

This will take form through the weekly podcast. In these conversations, we will extract their stories and experiences and showcase them as examples of how to do hard things.

Occasionally you’ll hear from me, but I will try to focus on getting people who have done hard things to share their stories.

As I’m writing this, I’ve already interviewed a few and I am excited about all the people their stories can help.

We will also accomplish this by biweekly blog articles focused on helping you change your mindset. These articles will be primarily written by me, however, if people are interested in submitting an article, we are up for that as well. The articles will feature things I’ve been thinking about and will look very similar to this post. The goal is to give you as much wisdom, information or knowledge that we can, to improve your life by helping you do hard things.

The second thing we intend to do is to accompany the previously mentioned blog posts and podcasts with actionable items. We want to give you as many concrete things to do, that will help you build your emotional toughness to be able to overcome hard things.

This might take the form of worksheets to fill out to learn specific skills or training videos. We don’t just want you to know how to do hard things, but we want you to do hard things. It will take practice, but that’s the whole point.

First Action Item

Here’s your first action item. Identify at least one person who you can take with you on this journey. You’ll need someone in your immediate circle to challenge you and push you as well as patch you up when you stumble and fall.

Think of someone. Reach out to them and ask them if they’d be willing to join with you on a journey of personal improvement. They may reject you.
That’s ok.

Thank them for their honesty, and look for someone else.

If you’re married, it’s great if your spouse joins you, but it’s not necessary. Sometimes they won’t.

That’s ok too.

Get someone that can be your support and that you can support. Let them know that you intend to climb every mountain in your life, and you’d like them to come along. Tell them you’ll climb their mountains with them as well. Find this person and let’s get going.

Your Outcomes

Success for the Hard Thing Podcast means that someone else’s life improved after interacting with any specific piece of content. We just want you to see more fulfillment, excellence, and joy in your life. That’s our entire goal.

I’d like to invite you to come join us on this journey.

I’m nowhere near where I want to be. I’m going to be changing, improving, and stumbling right alongside you. My hope is that, in my climb up the mountain, you’ll be there with me, learning and growing.

Let’s go climb that mountain.

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