High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way

by Brendon Burchard

I’m sure older generations could tell us about a time when struggle wasn’t something to be avoided. They knew that living a comfortable life free of all difficulty and all passion was never the goal. They didn’t expect to have a smooth ride. They would tell us that toil and struggle are the fire in which we forge character. They championed the ideals of getting dirt under your fingernails, working harder than anyone else would expect, striving for a dream with a fierce tenacity even in the face of hardship because those efforts made you a better, more capable human. Meeting struggle with poise and dignity got you respect. It made you a leader. Forgive me if this sounds nostalgic, but it’s nonetheless true. No one who achieved greatness avoided struggle. They met it, engaged with it. They knew that it was necessary, because they knew that real challenge and hardship pushed them, extended their capabilities, made them rise. They learned to honor the struggle. They developed a mindset that anticipated the struggle, welcomed the struggle, leveraged the struggle into reasons to give more. By meeting the conflicts and difficulties and outright messes of life straight on, willingly, we dismantle the walls of fear, brick by brick. This mindset, more than any other, is at the heart of my work. Read The Motivation Manifesto, The Charge, or Life’s Golden Ticket, and you will see a deep respect, almost a reverence, for struggle. When we learn to see struggle as a necessary, important,...