It's not that hard.

A few days ago I was engaged with one young aspirant who was struggling with his present job and wanted to switch over but was not able to decide upon.

Every time he wanted to take any action, he was holding it back saying- ‘It’s hard’, ‘It’s difficult’, ‘It’s not possible’.

Even during our conversation, he kept saying over and over again.

“It’s hard.”

“It’s difficult.”

“It’s not possible.”

I allowed him to speak as much he wanted to brief me about his various pain points.

He wanted to take actions but he was finding it difficult.

As we spoke, at the end of our conversation I advise him to write down on a piece of paper two words “not that” and I asked him to add in his sentences he spoke to me during our conversation.

In the first instance, he did not understand what I was asking him to do.

Later, I explained that instead of saying, “It’s hard,” he should say, “It’s not that hard.”

It was a different way of validating the challenge without looking at its negative effect.

It would provide a different way of looking at those challenges.

Yes, it’s difficult, but by adding ‘not that’ it sounds more manageable and less discouraging.

This can be applied in various other contexts.

Taking rejection is difficult.

Instead, put it as taking rejection is not that difficult.

Accepting our own weakness is difficult.

Instead, put it as accepting our own weakness is not that difficult.

Running the business smoothly is a daunting task.

Or running a business is not that daunting task.

Life is really hard.

Or, life is not really that hard. 

And many more such life challenges we can convert to ‘not that’ and can minimise the impact.

We all are facing a number of life challenges that are really hard.

But let us learn to say that they’re not that hard!