Choose Your Hard [Weekend WRAP 64]

I've been thinking a lot about who this newsletter is for. Long-time readers note it's become less about productivity and more about what I find interesting and want to share with you. To-Do's Day is about productivity, and my upcoming Effortless Email series is focused on, well, newsletters.

Yesterday I talked to a friend about writing "up" to your readers. Thinking of the people you want to work with, be friends with, and see at the park. So as you read this, Reader, know these are ideas and art I'm sharing with friends, peers, and neighbors.

And yes, it's a way for me to practice what I preach. I'm often writing this late Friday night or early Saturday morning. Because good, bad, or perfect, the email sends at 8am central on Saturday. That's what the professional does.

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💡 Idea of the Week: Choose Your Hard

The truly good things in life are hard. Having kids is hard, being married is hard, starting a business is hard, training jiu-jitsu is hard.

So on a week where the boys were sick, I made mistakes at work, and banged up my knee in jiu-jitsu, it's easy to feel frustrated — why is life so hard? I always come back to the fact I willingly chose each of these hard things, and will gladly do so tomorrow.

I happened upon this realization during my journal sessions. I start going through parts of life I feel are hard right now, places I'm struggling and frustrated. For each one I ask

A big part of the human experience of joy and meaning is rooted in struggle. Easy things are taken for granted. Even areas of life where you possess natural talent still require hard work and sacrifice. I don't believe talent makes things easier to do as much as it makes me more willing to stick with the thing.

Anthony De Mello says that suffering occurs when your illusions clash with reality. When I want every client to say yes, every drafted email to be approved, every Twitter thread to do well... that's my illusion clashing with reality. Even for creator mega-stars like Ali Abdaal, the journey to 3MM+ YouTube subscribers wasn't a smooth one.

You're able to choose your hard more often than you think. At each turn in life you made a decision to do the thing you're doing. Remembering the good things in life are often hard is the key to staying on the path.

Of course you can change, even when it disappoints other people, if you have the courage to be disliked. But that's simply another hard choice.

Takeaway: hard things journaling

Grab your notebook, fire up the apps, and make a list of everything that feels hard right now. Make a quick entry about why you willingly chose this hard thing, and hold that with you through the next week. Think on it when the world gets hard. Don't suffer. Endure.

👀 Video to Watch: Finding Your Niche

My friend (and ConvertKit founder) Nathan Barry has a great interview series called the Art of Newsletters. In this conversation with Kaya Yurieff, they cover different types of newsletter cadence (daily, weekly, monthly), when to create a paid tier, sponsorships, and more. Nathan does his viewers a service by setting great chapter markers on the video, so it's easy to jump around.

📰 Article I Read: How to manage business, household, and personal finances as a couple

My friend Marie Poulin wrote a very in-depth and personal article about how her and Ben (her husband) discuss and manage their money. She acknowledges they both have different thresholds for risk and stories around money: what it means, how we value it, how we choose to use it, etc.

For how much it permeates our lives, money is not discussed in detail enough. Marie (and Ben) pull back the curtain and helped me see a few new ways to manage and communicate about money with my wife and friends.

Heads up: it's a long one. Don't feel back about adding to your reading list and coming back with a beverage and notebook.

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Matt Ragland