The Value of Struggle

I’ve been thinking about struggle a lot recently.  It’s a tough subject.  There’s plenty to be had yet we always try to avoid it.

We have a supply and demand problem - and as much as I live these type of conversations in my professional life, I’m not talking about economics.  I’m referring to personal growth (which actually means community growth in my opinion, maybe a topic for another entry).  

A Demand Problem

The foundational premise of supply and demand is simple.  A good balance between each means a smooth flowing system.  Problems arise when one outweighs the other.

Supply and Demand will always be compared.

One scenario occurs when there is too much demand for something and not enough of a supply.  In this case, the little amount of what is available drastically rises in price because a lot of people desire it.   Those who have the most resources (money) are usually the ones who get what is in high demand.  Think of how much you would be willing to pay for toilet paper if there was a limited supply?

By the way, what’s round and has a thousand squares?

-a roll of toilet paper

I’d pay $10 for one of those if it was the only one on the shelf.

Thankfully, we are not in this situation when it comes to personal growth.  We are though, at the other extreme.  

I’m currently in the airport on the way to Houston for the LCMS National Youth Gathering and it must be said.

Houston, we have a problem!

We have a demand problem.  As I mentioned above, there’s plenty of struggle available to us - yes, I use the word “available” with intention.  I believe struggle, the struggle we choose for ourselves, is extremely valuable.  

The problem, is that there is not enough demand.  We spend so much time trying to lessen friction that we’ve developed a bad habit.  It’s natural to flee from eminent danger (think fight or flight response).  What’s unnatural is constant pleasure or even just the absence of struggle.  The “ups” and “downs” of life are necessary to thrive.  In fact, I wouldn’t even call them “ups” and “downs”.  They’re the wavelengths of a healthiest of life melodies.  

We should have higher demand for struggle - not unreconcilable failure (you know I say failures are hurdles of success!), not humiliation, and not frustration or disgust.  I’ve made it known that struggles are necessary for growth.  I also think they are necessary to properly acknowledge your triumphs.

Growth and Acknowledgement

Consider these two powerful forces in life:

1. Growth - what we strive for in The Impactmaker Movement.  We want the world to grow in a positive way and to stick with my travel and aviation analogy for the day, you have to put your own mask on first before assisting other passengers.  

You have to grow yourself if you want the world around you to grow.  

2. Acknowledgement - the recognition for what is good in life.  This is where we experience joy and fulfillment.  Celebrate what is good and share it with others.  Remember the July 21, 2020 E-Impact Blog entry?

Knowledge of these concepts should provide ample motivation to experience them.  The gateway is struggle.

What is Struggle

It’s appropriate to take a step back and define for what we are looking.  As mentioned, struggle is not a debilitating state or an isolated event.

To me, it’s a state of understanding and intentional action.  It requires each of these aspects.  

If you understand but fail to act, it’s avoidance - a demand problem.  If you act but don’t understand, it’s blind confidence.  

I’m a positive realist.  We can do great things.  Yet, it’s necessary to acknowledge and address what is so great.  With this being the case, I cannot tell anyone to act without reasonable expectations.

How to Apply It  

If struggle is both a state and an action, it’s susceptible to being incomplete.  This is why application isn’t always natural.

One of my favorite ways to express a challenging thought or concept is to indicate what it is not.  I’m going to do this now.

I am not asking you to try to mess up, do something overly risky, participate in illegal activity, or seek imperfection in areas you have expertise.

Don’t substitute mistakes or sabotage for struggle.

Applying struggle in a positive way requires preparation and a healthy level of comfort with risk and challenge.  

The preparation allows you to “enter” the state of struggle.  In fact, just preparing for something can be a bit of struggle at times.  Back to the trip that I am embarking on - I know the preparation alone for those organizing this event has been stressful.  

Preparing gives you a chance to consider multiple scenarios or results and do your best to make the most desirable ones happen.  It’s proactive problem solving.  Once you begin to acknowledge the different scenarios you are exposing yourself to struggle and are aware of things that you’d like to avoid.  This is a highly productive state because you are not only accomplishing part of your relevant mission but you are also training your own problem solving or “struggle skills”.

Your comfort with risk and challenge are what allow you to push through and make progress.  This is the ultimate goal with struggle and why we are diving so deep into this subject.  

TLDR for just this section;  apply struggle by preparing and building an appetite for risky challenges.

Where to Apply It

The best place to apply lessons are where you feel most comfortable doing so…or, is it?

“Bob, you just told me to challenge myself.  That is not being comfortable.”

Great point.  Here’s where we go wrong.  We assume that struggle should only come in the areas where we lag.  I do believe that improving our weaknesses is a good way to have baseline personal growth.  However, this often comes related to those “necessary evils” in life.  You know, the things that we have to do to keep up with society that we don’t enjoy.  Sadly to me, this often relates to money habits (part of the reason I wrote “Personal Finance in a Public World”).

If you’re determined to improve a weak point, more power to you and I commend you for that.  This blog entry, however, is related to the greatest challenges.  

The greatest challenges come when we push ourself beyond comfort in areas that we normally have comfort.  

Think about the level you’ll be operating on if you push yourself in something you already excel at.  You’re already good at it and you likely enjoy it (hopefully, that’s not just because you’re good).  

Take the next step.  Champions combine talent and hard work.  See E-Impact 107.

Maximizing Value

I hope I’ve provided enough information to convince you of the value of good struggle.  In good impactmaker fashion (and applying the principle from the last section), I will demand (too strong?) that we attempt to maximize its value.

What good is experiencing something if we forget it or don’t put the lessons to good use?  I would say not much at all.

The most important thing that you need to do to ensure you squeeze every last ounce out of tough time is exhaust all of your primary energy.  

There is a distinction between your primary and secondary (and beyond) energy.  It is possible to give too much energy so you’ll want to be careful here.  I do find that impactmakers have a tendency to over work but even the most driven of us can grow weary when pushing ourselves in which we are used to excelling.  

Your primary energy is what you use during your  “deep work”.  For me, it’s generally a four hour period in the late morning.  It’s taken me about two years to really hone in on this number.  I’ve known I have a limit for over a decade but couldn’t have told you where it is.  

Understanding your limit is a huge step towards reaching but not overreaching it.  I definitely err on the high side.  I believe it better to require a bit of extra recovery than to have left something on the table.  After all, we are trying to maximize.

Make sure that primary energy is used.  It’s the best energy and where you do your best work.  The struggle you experience there is the most valuable of all.

Documenting

How do you keep track of stuff?

Perhaps the second most important point is to document your experience during hard work.  It should be noted that this does expend energy and should be calculated into your “deep work” sessions whenever possible.  

You don’t want to push the limits of energy and either forget to document, skip it because you’re exhausted, or push through and do an inadequate job because you’re using secondary energy.  

The simplest form of documentation is to have a document that you periodically keep updated throughout your efforts.  It may seem like a hit to your momentum but with proper training it can be a great way to review and solidify lessons along the way while also giving you great notes to reference later.

Once you have a simple note taking system, you can seek more sophisticated ways of documentation.  There are numerous systems, acronyms, and digital applications to help with this.  I find that many people see a significant difference even before using one of these.  They are ultimately a function of the push to your limits concept and so I cannot criticize them.  Squeeze every last ounce out of that great documentation skill you’ve developed.

Winning by Losing

Losing might be a stretch but the struggle is real!

Real good.

Struggle well impactmakers.  

I’m right with you and we’ll win together.