Easy, Moderate, Hard

On the AllTrails app, every hike is labeled as easy, moderate, or hard. We’ve tried all 3 over the years...

On the AllTrails app, every hike is labeled as easy, moderate, or hard. We’ve tried all 3 over the years... The easy hikes are nice. A calm walk. Very enjoyable. Great conversation, enjoying nature. I recommend doing them. This week in Boulder, we went on a few hard ones...

Those are a bit different. They usually involve more vertical gain. Rocks. Some scrambling using your hands. And in Colorado, you already start at elevation, and you keep going up. Your legs start getting tired. Breathing is a bit harder. But then you get to the top. And it’s beautiful. Not only the view, but the feeling of doing the harder thing. And doing it with someone else is so fun.

It becomes an addictive feeling. We’re going to choose the harder option, and we’re going to get to the top. Part of it for me is wanting to be prepared for future adversity. If I’m always choosing the harder path, then I’ll be better ready to handle whatever the next hard thing is… and part of it is that it brings joy to do hard things with someone else. Especially with someone you love. Brings you closer together.
It’s a great reminder that when I think of the coolest moments of my life, they were usually preceded by something hard. Helping my football team win games was preceded by years of hard work in the weight room, practice field, film room.
Crushing it on stage in front of thousands of people is preceded by creating the talk, practicing it, getting tons of reps, and making it look effortless when it's go time.
It seems like all the great things happen after we choose that harder path, and then earn the beautiful view/the feeling of accomplishing something big.
The easy hikes are enjoyable (and I'll keep doing them). But the hard hikes are where the real fun happens.

And over 11+ years of talking with more than 680+ people on The Learning Leader Show, one commonality among those putting a positive dent in the world is that they regularly choose the hard path. And then consistently get after it each day.