I’ve always loved sledding and one of my favorite winter activities with my kids is exploring the neighborhood to find random hills to rush down. My kids have followed the love for sledding, but each time they are reminded the experience is give and take. The thrill ride down the hill can only happen after the struggle to climb up the hill.
Initially, the climb up the hill is nothing because of the excitement and thrill of the ride. My kids’ focus is solely on the love for flying down the hill on the sled. But over time, that excitement of thrill wears off. The fatigue from each climb up the hill starts to set in. The mind soon shifts from the excitement of rocketing down the hill to the more difficult part of sledding, making the climb up the hill. Soon, the climb up the hill becomes too much of a cost for the thrill sledding downhill and my kids tell me it’s time for hot cocoa.
It’s a common dilemma we all face. There are certain things in life we want but there comes a point in time where we ask whether the climb is worth the result we’re striving for. Mid-February is all too often a tipping point for many asking if the goal at the beginning of the year is worth all the struggle it requires.
If we are focused on a new health journey and we’re 6-7 weeks in, the newness of the journey is wearing off. The daily climb and struggle of getting on track to a healthier life is starting to get monotonous. It’s day after day of staying disciplined on the track of healthier foods and moving the body. The results never seem to come quickly enough. Is now the time the climb outweighs the desire to reach a healthier lifestyle?
The project at work that generated a ton of excitement and opportunity at the beginning is now multiple weeks in. Newness is wearing off and the daily struggle of trying to make progress inch by inch is starting to create mental fatigue. Will now be the time to start to pull back and not take full advantage of the opportunity this project provided?
The mind loves to calculate a cost benefit analysis for us to decide if the climb is worth what we’re striving towards. The problem with our calculator is it all too often sides with comfort. This calculator in our mind will continuously compute the struggle we may face each day as being too high of a cost for what we’re striving towards. Another day of discipline to eat right and exercise is too costly. Another day to bring mental toughness persevering in all the roadblocks the project presents is not worth it.
What the mind doesn’t calculate well is the cost of not making the climb each day. The cost of regret will exponentially be greater than the cost of staying disciplined enough to make the climb each day. But in the moment, we don’t compute this cost of regret. We calculate the cost of hard work which easily can be too expensive.
It’s no surprise the newness wears off and monotony sets in. The daily climb in our growth journey is not intended to be easy. Yet our mind computes struggle to be something we want to back away from. It will always be a struggle, especially when the newness wears off. Our challenge will be to not just calculate the cost in the moment. We must also take time to calculate the cost of regret not enduring each climb to see what’s on the other side. If we take the time to reflect and calculate this cost of regret, we’ll see the short-term cost of continuing to climb is miniscule compared to the cost of regret not seeing what we’re capable of.
Take your step: identify something you’ve set your sights on to grow in and are struggling to consistently put in the time and effort you know is needed. As you face one of these moments of struggle and are contemplating whether to put in the work, do one extra calculation. Your mind will already be calculating the cost of putting in the work which is causing you to question taking action. Go one step further and think through the regret that may soon follow. Is short-term ease worth risking seeing what’s on the other side of the climb? Is the cost of regret not pushing yourself to see what you’re capable of worth the short-term comfort? Don’t let the mind just stop at calculating whether to work hard in the moment. Make sure the extra step is taken to calculate the cost of regret.