When Hard Gets Easy

Here’s a strange little trick that would make most psychologists clutch their clipboards. When something feels too hard…make it harder.

I discovered this between bites of pork and exasperation. My daughter didn’t want to eat her dinner, so I did what any reasonable father who once read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance might do: I gave her more pork. Piled it on. A mountain of pig. Suddenly, she didn’t just nibble. She conquered. Because compared to that mountain, a few bites felt like skipping through daisies.

Same thing happened with a pitch deck. I was spinning in circles, trying to please every eye, every ego, every purpose. It was paralyzing. So I stopped pretending it had to be one perfect, immaculate deck. I made three. Three different decks. It sounded harder, but it freed the mind. Once I made the problem bigger, it became smaller.

Turns out our brains love contrast more than comfort. If you set your anchor deep enough in “impossible,” the merely “difficult” becomes a gentle breeze.

Stay Positive & Sometimes The Path To Easy Is Paved With Extra Pork