Hey Reader,
There’s a reason you’re so good under pressure.
You’ve trained yourself to carry hard things.
The workload, long hours, responsibility, and expectations.
Most elite performers don’t fall short because they can’t handle hard things.
It’s because they keep choosing the familiar kind of hard they already know how to survive.
But there’s a harder kind that’s far more rewarding.
In today’s issue, we’ll explore intentionally choosing harder options for a more successful life.
💭 Making the hard decisions
NVIDIA’s leaders decided a decade ago to pivot the company away from just selling graphics cards to becoming the backbone of AI computing.
Back then, Nvidia’s core business was gaming GPUs; a strong, profitable, established market.
Their growth was predictable.
Competing in that area was a familiar hard thing they could do.
I mean, engineers knew the tech, customers knew the product, and investors were comfortable.
But Nvidia’s leadership believed the raw computing power of their chips could be repurposed to do something that had never been proven at scale: to serve as the foundation for artificial intelligence workloads.
It wasn’t safe.
It wasn’t certain.
They invested billions in AI research and chip architecture long before anyone else believed it made sense.
Today, Nvidia is the dominant force in AI infrastructure, powering the core models and systems that run things like large-language models and machine learning platforms.
That move was a very hard decision.
It wasn’t anything within their comfort zone.
See what it made them become.
🧠 Familiar hard keeps you capped
I know you’re not afraid of hard work.
You’ve built your life on a lot of it.
You know how to push through challenges and setbacks.
You know how to stay in discomfort long enough until the expected win comes.
That’s why you’re here.
That’s why you’re this successful.
But there’s a subtle trap that shows up at this level of success.
You get really good at powering through hard times.
You’re used to being the strong one.
Things are pretty productive.
And because you’re good at it, you keep choosing those that of hard.
Not consciously. It has just become familiar.
You’re doing well, but you feel like you’re circling.
You know there’s more you can do, but it feels too hard, too unfamiliar, too uncomfortable to dig into.
But you also don’t feel like you’re stretching anymore.
And the weight of underperformance is starting to feel heavy.
❤️ Choose hard things on purpose
There’s always an easier or a harder way out of everything.
When you’re open to taking steps that stretch you much more, you tap into your higher abilities.
It forces honesty.
It raises your standard.
It stretches your courage in ways you didn’t even see coming.
And because you chose it, you’re not reacting to things.
I like to think you’re the one leading.
You’re the one in control, you’re making the decision.
You’re in touch with the part of you that can handle much more discomfort.
And once that happens, pressure doesn’t rattle you the same way.
You’ll sure feel so good for betting on yourself.
You build a deeper kind of confidence that makes you feel steady, capable, and thrilled even in the face of uncertainty.
Talk about being unfuckwithable and unstoppable.
🤲 Choosing hard, on purpose
At this level, the hard part isn’t knowing what to do.
It’s being honest about which hard you keep avoiding.
You can start by practicing the 5 steps to get comfortable being very uncomfortable:
- Choose the hard thing that truly stretches you. Reflect on your current goals. Schedule aside, is anything stretching your personality? If the decision only asks for more hours or more effort, you already know how to handle it. The real stretch is the one that asks for something you’re a little scared you can’t do.
- Choose the hard thing that collapses the gap between who you are and who you say you are. Before you make decisions, ask yourself: “Does this bring my actions closer to my scary goals, or not?” You already know where to channel your energy.
- Choose the hard thing that gives your future self something to stand on. Will tomorrow thank you for your current goals or wish you did better?
- Choose the hard thing that forces a new standard. Still on your current goals, ask yourself: “Is this raising who I am… or protecting who I’ve been?”
If you answer these questions honestly, you’ll discover areas you’ve been playing it safe.
Take the cue to choose the harder options for a more fulfilling life.
🎯 So what kind of hard are you avoiding?
Which hard thing keeps tapping you on the shoulder lately?
Where in your life are you still choosing what’s familiar because it feels safer?
What’s the harder option you already see, but haven’t stepped into yet?
What would change if you chose it on purpose?
The thing about choosing hard things on purpose is that it teaches you to trust yourself again.
And self-trust can make you do just about anything you decide to do.
As Seneca said, “Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.”
Choose the hard that strengthens you.
With appreciation,
Huw.
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Huw Edwards
Founder & CEO, h3.xyz
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