Daily Lab: The easy part is the hard part

Short summary:

• Entrepreneurs mistakenly believe that the tasks they avoid (due to discomfort) are the ones that will work best.
• We resist tasks we enjoy, assuming only difficult tasks are worthwhile.
• Success often means starting with what you like.

Why read the rest:

• Unpack why embracing what you enjoy might be the real key to success.

Entrepreneurs often think that the easy part of marketing is the hard part, and that the hard part is the easy part.

Here’s what I mean: If an entrepreneur is struggling to market their business, they’ll often assume they should do more of the things they find difficult.

Like networking (if they’re shy), doing ads (if they don’t have many resources), or engaging on social media (if they don’t have a following).

We assume that the one thing we haven’t done (because we don’t like it) will be the one thing that will work. And that the only reason it hasn’t worked is because we haven’t done it (yet). But once we do, then it’ll work for sure.

But the truth is, you haven’t done that stuff yet because you don’t want to. And you don’t want to because you don’t like to.

And because you don’t like it, you’re not going to be very good at it.

Which means, it probably won’t work.

So instead of starting at the hard part (which feels like the easy, natural thing to do), start at the easy part.

Start with what you like.

That sounds hard, I know. We assume everything has to be difficult to be worthwhile.

But notice how much you’re resisting doing what you like.

Notice how hard it is to do.

The easy part is the hard part.

But it’s the part that works.