Should we do things because they are difficult?
Two weeks ago, my brother and I went to the market to buy a new fidget spinner each. He being the elder brother bought the more expensive and seemingly fancy fidget-spinner whereas I, by definition of being the younger sibling got the basic, inexpensive one. Funny how his bragging didn’t last when the retainer of his fidget spinner de-tatched and fell tumbling down the sidewalk. This, on my way home, compelled me to really dwell on how we all have a misconception that if a product is expensive, it has to be, by default, better than the cheap one. But that’s where we are wrong! Expensive doesn’t coequal superior quality in the same way that physical good looks don’t equate to a witty brain. And very certainly like an action that seems difficult don’t equate to having better results.
So why do we bend to the norms of thinking that if someone’s doing something arduous, he/she is taking the high road?
There are 3 C’s of life- Choices, chances and changes. You must make a choice to take a chance that can change your life. So if every choice has an impact, be it big or small, why not make a choice to do something that you actually like, and not what is supposed to be hard and thus more fruitful? Glenda Leon, a famous European artist, was asked to make a choice between business management from a prestigious university which offered competitive and demanding courses and of course a promise of a better future or joining arts in a community college. She went for arts, got easily accepted, worked hard through university doing the things she actually was passionate about, and now sells paintings worth thousands of dollars each. Had she taken the gruelling courses because of their probability of giving higher results, she may not have made this far in her future.
The hard, the unapproachable tasks may seem like a huge pretty Pandora box from afar expecting to open and find all the good things in life, but if you have tiny little silver caskets in your hands already, why not go ahead and do them first? It is human nature to be curious and anticipated with things that seem out of reach. But going and doing something just because it seems hard and promises brighter future? Uh-huh. Think again.
We all know the famous words from President John F Kennedy’s speech “We choose to go to the moon, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” Not only did this statement made the Americans proud and anticipating of the near future learning that America was doing something that everyone hadn’t had the guts to do before but also created a vast misapprehension of how doing tasks that are harder will presumably have a higher result like the successful rocket launch of America.
I’d like to conclude this blog by a litlle thought-bubble. Explorations like the Polynesian exploration wouldn’t have happened in the first place if it wasn’t for the sailor’s desires to find new lands. Did they find it hard? Yes. But the question is, did they do it because it was hard? I’d like to think no, but I’d love to see your thoughts and comments on this topic.
