The paradox of not feeling great when doing great things
Everyone tells you to be authentic. To follow your dreams. To do what makes you happy in your life. But why doesn’t it feel great when you’re working hard for your dreams?
This morning when you woke up, did you want to get out of bed? When you finally got up was that an authentic decision? Maybe it was for you but not for me. I wanted to stay in bed. Suppressing that impulse day after day is hard, but it is a very basic element of building character. Character is only built at the hard times.
When you are running a marathon at kilometer 30 you don’t want to go further. But if you do, you can make the whole run. Sometimes not quitting is the only thing to do for success.
In these moments the difference between good and great is made. So is it a good idea to always tell people to be authentic and only do what makes them happy? Sometimes this is seen very short sighted and can easily be used as an excuse. People stop and tell themselves that this wasn’t what they wanted anyway. In retrospect its very easy to say you quit because you realized this wasn’t making you happy. Very few people will say: i couldn’t do it because it was hard and i wasn’t strong enough. This has two consequences for life:
- People say they are going for what makes them happy but in fact stop at some point because it gets hard and do something else what doesn’t truly make them happy
- People cheat and do morally incorrect things because life is hard and its way easier to give in to a temptation
At a moment of doing a real great thing you will not feel great. Thats what makes it hard to do great things. But if you can overcome this you can really make a difference.
To the people building a company that have so much work to do and no one believes in them: keep on working. Its the only thing that will bring you success. You will not feel great but you will do great things. To the people with an opportunity to cheat: stay strong and resist the temptation. Its the only thing that will lead to a moral life. You will not feel great but you will life a great life.
