Doing hard things
Summary
We often derive satisfaction from difficult activities, even if they aren’t pleasurable. There’s a method to seeking such satisfaction.
Cultivating a mindset that believes we can grow beyond our innate abilities and skills.
Seeking challenges that are at the very edge of our capabilities.
Keeping at the challenge despite setbacks.
I recently listened to an episode from my favourite podcast - Hidden Brain, called “Doing it the hard way”. On the show, psychologist Michael Inzlicht explained what we get from doing difficult things. As is the case with all Shankar Vedantam’s interviews, the episode was full of insights, but here’s what I took away. Inzlicht and his collaborators have discovered that while most people prefer to do things the easiest way possible, they can also associate significant meaning with completing effortful activities.
I couldn’t agree more. The episode brought several events into salience for me. Let me attempt to recount them for you. As a cricket nerd, the first couple of examples must come from cricket. In fact, they’re from the ongoing test series between India and England.
A tale of two talismans
There’s something about the audacity of the current English team that I can’t stand. Meet me over your favourite spirit, and we’ll discuss this topic at length. My distaste for their Bazball cult aside, I can’t help but admire their skilful players. England’s captain, Ben Stokes, is one such admirable character.
For those who don’t follow cricket, Stokes is a champion with a fragile body. He’s undergone many surgeries and recently returned to competitive cricket. As an all-rounder, he’s always in the game - batting, bowling or fielding. Additionally, captaincy takes a mental toll on the best athletes. Yet, with that brittle body, Stokes bowled a third of his team’s overs at Lord’s, and magicked his boys to an improbable victory when the chips were down. I watched every delivery of that test match, and I could see how tired he was and how he kept willing himself on, over after over. Was it hard? Sure it was. Was it satisfying? Here’s what Stokes said.
Ben Stokes
“I’ve taken myself to some pretty dark places. But if bowling for your country to a test match win doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what does. I was cooked yesterday, but nothing was stopping me.”
Fast bowling is amongst the most physically demanding things a cricketer can do. It’s unnatural for human beings to throw a projectile at 140-150 kmph on repeat. Cricket fans will know that there’s nothing enjoyable about bowling a third of a team’s overs. Stokes conceded that he wasn’t rocking up to bowl the next day. “Now I’m going to be looking forward to lying in my bed for four days,” he said. Yet, Stokes was the man of the match. He had my grudging respect. More importantly, he’d responded to his insatiable desire to win.
A few days after Stokes’ heroism, another cricketing incident solidified this idea of pursuing difficult challenges. Rishabh Pant is India’s maverick wicket keeper and a talismanic figure for the team. While batting on the first day of the test at Manchester, Pant fractured his right foot while attempting one of his funky manoeuvres. The medical staff had to stretcher him off the ground. Cricket doesn’t allow substitutes, so without Pant, India was going to be a batter short. The easy thing was to sit out and let the foot heal. The management had already announced that Pant wouldn’t play the next match.
Pant, however, had other ideas. The very next day, when the team found itself in a spot of bother, Pant took off his moonboot and came limping back to face England’s bowlers. While the runs he added may well be inconsequential to the result of the match, the crowd at Old Trafford greeted him back with a standing ovation. After many painful minutes, when he lost his wicket and walked off the ground, he received a similar round of applause. Batting with a broken foot is difficult, but “difficult” is what cricket’s mad prince does, because he loves the game so much. We know this because he came back to the game from a life-threatening accident. Every day he plays is a gift. To the fans, and to himself. Why wouldn’t he take the chance to play if he has one?
The pursuit of challenge
I’d like you to think about the times you’ve pursued difficult things. Lifting a heavier set of weights at the gym, running long distances or completing an arduous trek - they all seem like meaningless effort from the outside. Still, these effortful activities feel satisfying to the people who engage in them, don’t they?
Take my hobby for example. Wildlife photography is arguably one of the most demanding genres in photography. We get out early, stay out late, brave the elements and often get nothing in return. In an age of AI-generated media, it’s undoubtedly easier to generate your dream image on a computer. Yet, I choose to drive on roads from hell and camp in places with no facilities but a hole in the ground.
On my last trip to Botswana, we were on a particularly arduous stretch of road between the Okavango Delta and Kasane. At the Ghoha gate of the Chobe National Park, we stopped to stretch our legs, and I took the opportunity to chat with a few other tourists. When they sought my reaction about the roads, I instinctively recounted a line by Seneca that I’d heard on Shankar Vedantam’s show,
“Things that are hard to bear are sweet to remember.”
Indeed, that line has stuck with me ever since I first heard it. Don’t get me wrong, I love putting my feet up more than many other people I know. There is something about a challenge, though, that has me pumped! So I ended my week attempting to unpack the characteristics of enjoyable challenges.
Of Goldilocks, mindsets and grit
Reflecting on the podcast episode, I recalled a concept from James Clear’s "Atomic Habits." He calls it the Goldilocks Zone.
“The Goldilocks Rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities. Not too hard. Not too easy. Just right.”
The Goldilocks zone defines satisfying challenges
I encourage you to read Clear’s post about how Steve Martin grew as a comedian over a career that began in the 1950s, simply by chasing new challenges and staying in the Goldilocks zone. It wasn’t always smooth sailing. Martin had to deliver some sets to empty clubs. Sometimes he’d have sets that were a mere two minutes long. Other times, he’d read poems to make his set long enough. He finally hit the jackpot as a commercial success, and reflected on that success, saying, “10 years spent learning, 4 years spent refining, and 4 years as a wild success.”
It may seem that the Martins, Stokeses and Pants of the world are born champions, but Angela Duckworth will disagree. Sure, some people may be born with gifts, but it takes effort to convert talent into skill and then turn that skill into achievement. In Professor Duckworth’s view, “effort counts twice”.
Effort counts twice
Then again, you’ll summon such effort only if you believe you can cultivate skills and achieve incredible things through that effort. That belief is what Carol Dweck refers to as the growth mindset.
So, what does it all mean for us, the average Joe and Jane? Here’s what I’ve taken away.
Cultivate a growth mindset. Believe that you can cultivate skills and achieve incredible outcomes through deliberate practice.
Stay in the Goldilocks zone and never settle. If you enjoy a hobby or a particular type of work, continue to challenge yourself with achievable tasks that push you out of your comfort zone.
Grit it out. Take the failures in your stride. Stick to anything long enough, and you’ll get good at it.
Those are the simple things that we can all do when embracing difficulty. And occasionally, the results will be glorious, like it was for young Shoaib Bashir, who I should have mentioned in the same breath as Stokes and Pant. Bashir, a wrist spinner, had broken his left hand in the first innings of the Lord’s Test. Yet, when it came to defending a small total, Bashir ignored the easy option of sitting in the dressing room. He came out to field with a heavily strapped left hand. A win, a loss and a tie were all on the cards, as India’s last batting pair kept nibbling away at England’s total.
Mother cricket, however, had her reward ready for Bashir. Mohammed Siraj grittily defended the penultimate delivery of Bashir’s 15th over in that second innings. Yes, you read that right. Bashir bowled almost 15 overs with a strapped left hand. The ball landed at Siraj’s feet, and as if only to break a billion Indian hearts, it rolled onto the stumps and dislodged an otherwise stubborn bail in the process. England won the match. Bashir was a hero. Was it difficult? No doubt, but broken hand be damned. Was it satisfying? I’ll let the image below speak for itself.
Shoaib Bashir (bottom left) celebrates the last Indian wicket