Most of your life will be spent doing three kinds of things:
Category 1: Things you do because they are easy and fun.
Category 2: Things you do even though they are hard.
Category 3: Things you do BECAUSE they are hard.
And here is my prediction: 90% of your success and joy will come from category 3 activities.
Category 3 is what pushes people to be their finest.
In the army, soldiers push themselves to the limits of their life to join the special forces and wear the maroon beret.
Sometimes, scientists take up the hardest problems and slog for years. E.g., Andrew Wiles worked on Fermat’s Last theorem for a decade.
Entrepreneurs quit plush jobs to solve up hard problems, often facing borderline starvation.
The above examples may sound extreme, but don’t take my word — just examine your own life. List your life’s achievements, and ask yourself, which ones you are most proud of. Which category do they belong to?
That is the answer.
To push past the point where your physical and emotional reserves are over, you need something special – love.
Love for hard things is the secret you have been looking for. But it is hardly a secret — you already know it.
– Rajan