{"id":26509,"date":"2014-06-26T21:58:51","date_gmt":"2014-06-27T02:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/?p=26509"},"modified":"2014-06-26T21:58:51","modified_gmt":"2014-06-27T02:58:51","slug":"fun-fast-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/fun-fast-easy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Myth of Fun, Fast, and Easy (and Why It Keeps You from Getting the Results You Want)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Starting things is simple. It\u2019s progress that\u2019s hard. Nothing makes that truth come alive like looking back on your week and seeing what didn\u2019t get finished.<\/p>\n\n<p>When we begin a project there\u2019s all kinds of enthusiasm. We\u2019re energized by that surge of excitement that comes from novelty and our own creativity. But that surge is like starter fluid; it\u2019s not the fuel that will see us through the journey.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Some of us are more prepared to accept this than others. In her book <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/159285849X\/mhyatt-20\">The Gifts of Imperfection<\/a><\/em> researcher Bren\u00e9 Brown blames our reluctance on the culture of fun, fast, and easy.<\/p>\n<p>We are conditioned to want results, <em>now<\/em>\u2014tomorrow at the very latest. And we want it without expending a lot of effort. And of course, we must have fun doing it, otherwise, we are on to the next shiny thing. But other than few lucky or highly controlled exceptions, most payoffs are not immediate.<\/p>\n<h3>The Urge to Quit<\/h3>\n<p>Unmet by the success we expect, we can lose heart and give up. I\u2019ve seen this a hundred times in a dozen contexts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The author who is excited about a new idea but who grinds to a halt four months into writing the book.<\/li>\n<li>The spouse who is worn down after five years of marriage and is ready to walk away.<\/li>\n<li>The employee who fails to hit their goals and starts checking out.<\/li>\n<li>The blogger who doesn\u2019t see a dramatic increase in traffic after a month of consistently posting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I\u2019ve got personal examples galore, and I\u2019m sure you do as well. The truth is that anything worth doing isn\u2019t all fun, it\u2019s almost never fast, and it certainly isn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n<p>Take fitness. I knew I needed more core strength; it\u2019s one of the keys for balance and endurance, specially in the second half of life. But I wasn\u2019t making any progress. I started half a dozen times but couldn't gain any momentum, so I finally hired a fitness trainer.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been tough. My trainer constantly pushes me out of my comfort zone. And progress seems slow at my age. And, of course, it's not free. There's a cost in terms of time and money.<\/p>\n<h3>Five Actions to Battle the Myth<\/h3>\n<p>Honestly, I am frequently tempted to quit, buying into the myth of fun, fast, and easy. When that happens, I take five actions:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Maintain perspective.<\/strong> Look at careers of the great leaders. Was it an instant shot to the top with no setbacks for any of them? No, because obstacles, reversals, and even failures are all part of the story for everyone. We can\u2019t bank on being the exception\u2014that\u2019s just an illusion guaranteed to derail and disappoint us even more than the problems we\u2019re facing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reframe frustrations.<\/strong> Most things depend to some degree on how we look at them. Instead of letting the worst picture prevail, I ask myself <a href=\"http:\/\/www.michaelhyatt.com\/seven-better-questions-you-can-ask-in-the-midst-of-adversity.html\">empowering questions<\/a> to help me push past the difficulty I face. What, for instance, could this obstacle make possible? How can I grow in this situation? What should I be learning in this challenge?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Abandon perfectionism.<\/strong> \u201cIf a thing is worth doing, it\u2019s worth doing badly,\u201d said <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/a-thing-worth-doing\">G.K. Chesterton<\/a>. That line always makes me laugh, but it carries an essential truth: <em>Doing<\/em> is better than <em>not doing perfectly<\/em>. Why get hung up on the fact that things are going perfectly\u2014or even really well? If it\u2019s worth doing at all, we should keep going.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Provide margin.<\/strong> This one is super practical. Few things are as fast and easy as we imagine. So plan accordingly! In <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/0804137382\/mhyatt-20\">Essentialism<\/a><\/em> Greg McKeown talks about adding a 50 percent buffer to our project timelines. Why set ourselves up to fail?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Embrace agency.<\/strong> Don\u2019t lose sight of this. Entitlement, as Bren\u00e9 Brown <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/159285849X\/mhyatt-20\">says<\/a>, is about feeling like we deserve success. Agency is the exact opposite. It's realizing we must work to achieve it. Agency sees an obstacle and says, \u201cI can overcome this,\u201d while entitlement complains about not being done yet. If we keep our agency, we can survive the times our dreams cease being fun, fast, or easy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Getting to the Other Side<\/h3>\n<p>In his book <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/1400202981\/mhyatt-20\">A Million Miles in a Thousand Years<\/a><\/em>, Donald Miller tells the story of crossing a stretch of water. Paddling from shore gives us the rush of anticipation and progress. But the anticipation fades and the progress seems to slow.<\/p>\n<p>Pretty soon we\u2019re in the \u201fmessy middle,\u201d doubting if we have the strength to make it to the other side\u2014or maybe why we started in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re there right now, keep paddling. Soon the shore will come into view. Inspiration is good for starters. After that, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brainpickings.org\/index.php\/2014\/06\/26\/carole-king-creativity-interview\">perspiration<\/a> is the key. And if you defeat the myth of fun, fast, and easy, you\u2019ll enjoy success that\u2019s satisfying, fruitful, and rewarding.<\/p>\n<div class=\"reminder\">What challenges are you facing right now that you can beat if you stick with it? What would it cost you to throw in the towel?<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Starting things is simple. It\u2019s progress that\u2019s hard. Nothing makes that truth come alive like looking back on your week and seeing what didn\u2019t get finished. When we begin a project there\u2019s all kinds of enthusiasm. We\u2019re energized by that surge of excitement that comes from novelty and our own creativity. But that surge is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":26512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[989,609,877,1078,1079,520,1019],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Myth of Fun, Fast, and Easy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It&#039;s easy to become discouraged when wins come slowly. Don&#039;t be a victim of the myth of fun, fast, and easy. 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