You can do hard things.

I want you to plant those words firmly into your mind.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

Through the years, I have realized how important this statement really is.

We tend to play it safe in life.

We often choose to do the things we find easier because challenges are tough.

We’re afraid of failure, and we’re afraid of the what-ifs.

“What if I can’t do it?”

“What if people laugh at me?”

“What if something bad happens?”

“What if…what if…what if…”

We may be afraid to try, but giving in to those what-ifs is going to keep us stuck exactly where we are.

I get it—doing hard things isn’t easy, and it’s often uncomfortable. But we need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Some people will always want to play it safe. But playing it safe does very little to help those around you.

I like to tell my kids that they can’t complain about something unless they want to be part of the solution.

If you’re not willing to try something, and you’re not willing to do something to improve the world around you, then you can’t complain about why it’s not working for you.

There is no growth and no experience gained by playing it safe.

Doing hard things brings growth and development.

In order to grow as a person, we have to put ourselves in situations that challenge us.

It’s the hard things in life that help develop our character. They ultimately define who we are and how we see the world.

When we step out of our comfort zones and try hard things, we gain experience and strength that can come no other way.

Whether it’s in our personal life or in our work life, it’s important that we have the courage to do the things we think we can’t.

Professionally, when you look at statistics of women in the workforce, women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet 100% of the qualifications.

What does that mean? It means that they are already overqualified for the job because there is no room for them to grow.

And why don’t women apply for jobs where we don’t meet all the qualifications? Well, because we’re playing it safe.

It’s because of our fear of failure, that overwhelming fear that we’re not enough. But I’m here to tell you we are all more than enough.

We are all capable. If we want to grow into the person we want to be, we need to be out there doing those things we think we can’t.

This is where the growth comes and where our character is defined.

Doing hard things brings resilience and mental toughness.

Resilience and mental toughness are important in today’s world.

There are hard things happening every day. We need to learn how to face those hard things with determination and resilience.

When we practice doing hard things, it gives us the opportunity to gain greater courage, increase our perseverance, and show real grit.

Doing hard things challenges us and provides us with valuable lessons that will help us face other challenges we may have in life.

As we navigate through the challenges that come when accomplishing hard tasks, we are able to develop a more resilient mindset. This allows us to face future challenges with greater resilience.

In other words, when we practice doing hard things, even those unexpected challenges life brings us will seem easier to manage.

And rather than seeing challenges as barriers keeping us stuck, we can see them as opportunities for greater growth and resilience.

Doing hard things brings fulfillment and satisfaction.

There is really a wonderful sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that comes from doing hard things.

It’s in doing the things we think we can’t that we actually realize just how capable we really are.

There are many things I’ve done in my life that I never thought I was capable of doing.

For example, the idea of having six kids is something I would have never thought I could do when I was younger. If that idea had come up in a conversation, my response would have been, “I could never do that!”

I definitely would have told you that I would never write a book. But the fact that I am now writing my second book shows that I am capable of doing things I never thought I could.

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is absolutely one of those things I never thought I could do when I was younger. I don’t think I would have even thought of it as a possibility.

But as I go through life, I’m more willing to try things because I know that even if I fail, there is still so much growth in the trying.

It’s only by trying and failing and trying and failing again that we can grow into the person we want to be.

For me, one of the greatest outcomes of doing hard things is the sense of accomplishment that comes after.

It is very fulfilling to know we’ve pushed ourselves beyond our comfort zones and completed something challenging.

Do the thing you want to do but think you can’t.

Looking back on your life, I’m sure there are many things you have done that you never thought possible.

There are so many hard things life throws at us that we never thought we could do—yet we do them because we have to.

My challenge to you is to do something hard that you choose for yourself. Find something that you’ve always wanted to do but never thought you could and do it.

Why wait for life to give you the hard things? It’s about learning to challenge ourselves because we value the experience and the growth.

I hope you face all the challenges of life with courage and a smile. And that you value the lessons that come with choosing to do those hard things.

Because in the trying, you have already accomplished it. Whether you win or lose, you have chosen to play the game.