Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness

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It’s time to move to a definition based on navigating discomfort by creating space to take thoughtful action. A lot of stories trying to explain his points on the book, but everything had a reason and helps you digest the true meaning of Do Hard Things. Much of this was new to me, and the mix of stories and science gave it a good mix of applicability and accessibility while making a convincing argument.

What does an adult who was taught to rely on fear for motivation do when left to her own devices in the real world? They exist to put people in situations that simulate the toughest parts of what they might face on the job. It’s this idea of bravado and masochism persevering; someone that exudes bombastic energy with bold self-confidence. Perhaps you’ve pushed through physical pain only to find that the more you ignored it, the more unbearable it became. The section on the brain and the inner voices was helpful and something new I’ve walked away with from this book.Even in terms of discipline, the area that you would think a demanding style would be successful, it falls short. Surprisingly I even liked his definition of toughness: “ Real toughness is experiencing discomfort or distress, leaning in, paying attention, and creating space to take thoughtful action.

When life feels like it’s spinning out of control, or like the task you have in front of you is insurmountable, it’s easy to default to hopelessness. If you are interested in self-betterment, and/or high performance - then this one needs to be on your to-read list. Ever since then, you could say I’ve become a frequent flier—I’ve devoured almost every piece of content that Steve and Brad have released including their books, blog posts, podcasts, and interviews. I initially read this book to gain insights for my own distance running journey, and to consider how Magness's ideas relate to Jesus's/the Bible's view of toughness. Have high expectations so people have that necessary challenge for growth then offer support and nurture to help them get there.Once upon a time, he ran a mile in 4:01 in high school, at the time the 6th fastest high school mile in US history. The writing is broken into well-defined chapters, and each chapter into segmented writing with relevant headers at the top.

Steve Magness is a world-renowned expert on performance, coauthor of Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success and The Passion Paradox: A Guide to Going All In, Finding Success, and Discovering the Benefits of an Unbalanced Life, and the author of The Science of Running: How to Find Your Limit and Train to Maximize Your Performance. It fails in the military, where the most resilient soldiers show high levels of emotional flexibility, and high levels of humble confidence. Also, most people avoid discomfort and we are a taught at a young age that we get positive affirmation when we succeed or accomplish a task and no response or a negative response when we fail. As I wrote for another review this year, I try to pick up at least one self-help guidance book every year and try to incorporate at least one key take away from it in my life. Do Hard Things tasks us with re-thinking the ingrained ideas we have about the traditional model of toughness, while at the same time, providing us with the mental tools to develop real toughness.Fueled by lessons learned over 20 years of building production code for side-projects, small businesses, and hyper growth startups. Those players had more technical fouls (an indicator of aggression) throughout the rest of their career. Magness includes “toughness maxims” smattered throughout the book–short aphoristic-style phrases that pack a punch and resonate deeply. I guess I was hoping more for some concrete ideas rather than the greatest hits of performance studies from the last 60 years or so.