Hard vs Difficult

A dear friend asked me recently

“How is the business doing? More importantly, how are you doing?”

I responded, “This is hard, man. Really hard. I knew it would be, but I had forgotten how hard it is to build a new business.”

I ignored his “how are you doing” question.

He admonished, “I was more interested in and concerned about you. How are YOU doing?”

I looked at him as I pondered what to say.

“I have good days and not-so-good days,” as I attempted to skirt the heart discussion and move on.

My evasive tactics didn’t work.

After a while of talking from the heart, we switched gears and he went into coach mode.

“I want to challenge you to stop using the word ‘hard’.”

Okay. “Why is that?” I asked inquisitively.

“‘Hard’ can be an emotionally negative word tied to ‘can’t’,” he answered.

“Never thought of it that way before. Makes sense,” I replied after pondering.

Just like that, the coach is coached…and I am grateful!

Grateful for my friend who cared enough to poke me in the chest to help me be better.

Grateful for a new learning and insight that I had not considered before.

Grateful that I have one less word in my personal dictionary :)

Reminds me of Proverbs 27:6 (NCV), “The slap [rebuke] of a friend can be trusted to help you, but the kisses of an enemy are nothing but lies.”

I am reminded on a consistent basis that I need:

God.

And I need people.

I need reminding that I am on a difficult journey to:

Become a better version of myself today than yesterday

Build a business that God called me to over 3 decades ago

Be faithful in my being, becoming, belonging, and doing

How about you? Do you have any words you need to purge from your personal dictionary?

The bottom-line: may we all seek to have friends that are courageous enough to poke us in the chest, to make us better.