the tougher you are on yourself, the easier life will be on you.

If you want to be tougher mentally, it is simple: Be tougher. Don’t meditate on it.” These words of Jocko’s helped one listener — a drug addict — get sober after many failed attempts. The simple logic struck a chord: “Being tougher” was, more than anything, a decision to be tougher. It’s possible to immediately “be tougher,” starting with your next decision. Have trouble saying “no” to dessert? Be tougher. Make that your starting decision. Feeling winded? Take the stairs anyway. Ditto. It doesn’t matter how small or big you start. If you want to be tougher, be tougher.

If you are willing to do only what’s easy, life will be hard. But if you’re willing to do what’s hard, life will be easy.

The harder life is for a man when he is young, the easier it will be in the future.

If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you.

Life gets easier when you don’t blame other people and focus on what you can control. — JAMES CLEAR

Being as kind to yourself as you are hard on yourself is a skill that I’ve had to actively nurture. I had a teammate at UO named Becca who, when she felt particularly overwhelmed or otherwise dissatisfied with her day, would put on PJs, get into bed, turn off the lights, lie down for one minute, and then spring out of bed and declare “NEW DAY!,” put on a new outfit, make coffee, and have breakfast again. It didn’t matter if it was ten in the morning or six at night — if she sensed her day going south, she allowed herself this routine. It is the ultimate self-kindness.

Keep Going

Your hardest times often lead to the greatest moments of your life. Keep going. Tough situations build strong people in the end.

To be gentle, tolerant, wise and reasonable requires a goodly portion of toughness.

The hard things got easier the more you did them.

Sometimes the hardest things in life are what make you the strongest.

Learn to be difficult when it counts

Every day, work harder on yourself than anything else. ‘Cause if you become more intelligent, more valuable, more skilled, you can add more value to other people.

There is no more time to waste. Hours and days evaporate like creeks in the desert. That’s why it’s okay to be cruel to yourself as long as you realize you’re doing it to become better. We all need thicker skin to improve in life. Being soft when you look in the mirror isn’t going to inspire the wholesale changes we need to shift our present and open up our future.