Have you ever had someone tell you that we "choose our hard"? Maybe a friend sent you a post on the socials that presented the two sides and was a reminder that both options can be hard so choose what hard you want. In concept, it is not a terrible thought, reminding us that we have choice in how we approach our lives. Yet, we have been talking about this concept lately and how we want to think about the concept of "hard".
Language matters and how we talk to ourselves matters. We found ourselves navigating some big changes lately and it started to feel like the easy default was to say things like "it is definitely hard but I am figuring it out" or "I know it is hard but I chose this". In our last few meetings, we started talking more about the idea of "hard" and what it would look like to reframe it. The reality for us is that yes, we chose these roles and these paths, and we fully knew it would be hard and challenging, and we also knew it would be worth it.
We started realizing that it was less about us choosing hard and more about us choosing what mattered and where we felt we could make an impact. That does not diminish the fact that it is hard or the fact that there are days where we might think "did I make the right choice?". It does allow us to think about the decision from a different perspective, a perspective that recognizes that we are strong enough to choose the path because we believe that both us and the impact of our decisions are worth it.
This is the power of our equation - it delivers a result that is empowering, and it gives us space to recognize that how we think about our actions can change the outcomes we create. It is a simple equation with incredibly powerful results:
How I think + how I feel x the actions I take
=
the outcomes I create.
That equation is what led us to ask ourselves "what if we stopped choosing our hard, and started choosing our worth?" It does not make hard suddenly become easy, yet it does help in how we think and feel about the decision we make, and ultimately impacts the outcomes we create.
We stopped choosing our hard and started choosing our worth.
How would changing the way you think about choices impact the outcomes you create? We found that it changed the way we approached conversations, how we decided what actions to take and the energy we created around our teams and our environments. Choosing our worth became a guiding principle in how we showed up with ourselves, our teams, our leaders and our clients. And, that choice has allowed us to find better solutions to achieve our goals and manage the thoughts and feelings that can lead to thinking it is so hard.
We continue to navigate our thoughts and feelings and it is definitely and art and a science to find the balance, yet we also know the when we understand the equation, we have the ability to move closer to creating the real outcomes we want. We get to move from choosing our hard to choosing our worth. And that is really worth it!