If It Were Easy

It’s safe to say that, in general, if you were born with two properly functioning lungs and a properly functioning brain, you can breathe. It’s also safe to say that you likely didn’t have to learn how to breathe. You’re probably doing it right now, as you read this sentence.

That’s because breathing is easy. It’s so easy, in fact, that you do it 20,000 times a day and you don’t even have to think about it. It’s so easy that pretty much everyone does it.

The same can be applied to drinking water, eating walking, sleeping, driving a car, sending a text message, or even riding a bike. Sure, some people have a harder time than others, but for the most part, these are easy things that the average person is capable of doing.

How about waking up at 5 am? Or running 3 miles? Or bench pressing your body weight? How about starting a successful business? Reading every day? Meditation? Writing a book? Painting a beautiful picture? Being the CEO of a company? Playing a professional sport?

Sure, there are lots of people who do these things and do them well, but not everyone can. That’s because they’re difficult and require thousands of hours of practice. These are the types of things that require consistency and discipline on a daily basis. If these things were easy, everyone would do it.

What are some of your more difficult goals and aspirations in life? Are they easy? Could everyone do it? What about things that you currently do on a daily basis? Could everyone do what you do? Or would they have to take some time to learn how?

I guarantee that you do at least one thing every single day that may seem easy to you, but would be incredibly difficult for me to do; and vise versa.

For example, I shoot and edit photos and videos on a daily basis. It seems easy to me because I’ve been doing it for nearly a decade and I do it every single day. But if I handed you a camera and a computer, would you be able to do it? After some time and practice, sure—but not right away.

My mom is a nurse and does nurse things on a daily basis that probably seem very easy to her. If she gave me an ill patient and a clipboard full of information, I’d have absolutely no idea what I was doing.

We can learn two things from this line of thinking...

First, we all do incredible things on a daily basis and we don’t even realize it. We ought to give ourselves some more credit.

Second, when we’re trying a new venture and aren’t immediately an expert at it, we need to remind ourselves that mastering a skill takes time, dedication, and patience. Don’t get discouraged after trying and failing a few times. Keep going.

If it were easy, everyone would do it.