Turn on a video game.
The first screen that appears asks you what level you want to play at. Generally, there are three options: Easy, normal, hard.
Most people choose Normal.
Professional gamers might choose Hard.
I don’t know who selects Easy but I am sure there would be some people in that category as well.
Now, why do most people go for normal?
You would answer, that because it’s a balanced state. You get the best of both worlds. The AI is not so hard to play against. But it’s also not that easy that you can just run them over and do what you want. In addition, most people are not professional gamers so they won’t be able to survive in the hard mode.
My question to you here would be, what mode are you working in your life, outside of a video game?
What is your default mode?
Let me answer first.
My default mode in life is the Normal mode.
Is that bad?
No.
But it’s not great either. The truth is, It’s inadequate.
When you see your compatriots achieving massive goals, you doubt your pace. You doubt your speed of action and making decisions.
Does everyone need to operate at Hard mode?
No.
But If you dream of becoming rich, rising above average, and achieving something worthwhile in your life then you can be damn sure that it will not be possible by staying in your comfort zone, i.e. The Normal mode.
Most people like me operate at normal mode in their lives and thus their results are well, normal. Nothing out of the ordinary.
I believe most of us need to operate at a much higher capacity than we currently do. The funny thing is we all can do that.
Then why most of us don’t?
Comfort.
Easy will ruin your life
Easy is the biggest roadblock to progress. I think Denzel Washington said this line and it is true.
Our comfort zone, sanctuary, retreat, safe haven, whatever you want to call it is one thing we need to get out of immediately. Sure, enjoy your stay there for 1 or 2 days. But staying any longer will only diminish your will to act.
You will lose all your energy and enthusiasm to chase your dreams.
Make that comfort zone your sojourn. Do not migrate there permanently.
How do you know when you are operating in easy mode?
Notice when you start to become addicted to a routine or a certain way of life.
Any deviation from it makes you irritating.
If you face any difficult situation, you veer back into that routine or pattern of behavior.
When you see such things, take notice. You are in your comfort zone.
Plan your escape immediately.
Why should you escape the easy mode?
A seed sprouts when it is buried underneath the soil, not placed on the ground.
The easy mode is, easy. When you face easy, there is little resistance. When there is no resistance there is no growth. Because when there is no challenge to fight against, you don’t need to grow.
You need the struggle in order to rise like a hero.
If there is no struggle you would never realise the importance of the achievement.
Harder the thing, greater is the sense of achievement.
If you want to feel the sense of accomplishment, start targeting hard things in your life.
Do things that others are not doing. Do things that others would think are impossible.
Do you ever notice that whenever we are faced with a challenge or an uncomfortable situation or something that we find difficult, our default mode is we say NO.
Most people are like that.
You can simply rise above the average by going towards the thing you fear. Facing your fear head-on gives you power over them.
Now you are dictating the terms in your relationship with your fears. When you do that, even if you fail, you gain confidence. Using that confidence if you keep on trying to do that thing again and again, eventually that fear will not have any shred of control over you. You would have conquered it.
That’s the reason to go for hard things in life. You realise that nothing is hard in life, if you make up your mind.
It’s just that we are accustomed to operating in the easy mode.
People take notice
When you operate in the Hard mode, people start noticing you.
People start to recognize you because they will see themselves in you.
Everyone wants to do hard things. But most can’t or wouldn’t due to variety of reasons.
You will become the go to person for doing hard things.
You will easily rise above the masses and make your place in the world.
Push your limits
If you do hard things eventually you will surpass your limit.
You will begin looking for new challenges.
You would have gone so far out of your comfort zone that you will begin to see new horizons that you would never have been able to if you stayed in your old ways.
You meet people there gunning for these massive goals.
Your level of confidence would be sky high.You would know that anything is possible now if you apply your mind to it.
You would never be the same.
Your mind would have stretched far out of of your own limiting beliefs.
Do not ever compare your hard mode to other person’s hard mode
It’s 3’o clock, and I am writing this article after a hectic day. I could have just gone to sleep. But that would be easy. I decided to write daily. Hence, I am here putting my fingers to the keyboard and my words to action.
Now to Elon Musk this is nothing. He is building space rockets. But the hard mode for every person is different and relative. My hard mode is this. I will graduate to more harder levels eventually. But you don’t go to level 100 from level 1. You have to pass all the levels to prepare yourself for each upcoming harder level.
I write daily here on my blog. There is no limit to the word count. I am not focusing on any topic here. I want to build a daily writing habit. This is Day 42 of the Daily Writing Challenge in 2022.