MJ Demarcos Great Advice

 

I leveraged my superpower, and that superpower is decision-making.

I'm living a dream, and when I reflect on my choices, it boils down to this:

Hard decisions, easy life. Easy decisions, hard life.

What were some of the hard decisions? Here are just a few:

The hard decision to take the road less traveled and be an entrepreneur where peer pressure, academia, and media promoted a job culture. The easy decision would have been to get a job and pave the way to an unfulfilled life with a seemingly secure paycheck. The hard decision not to get wrapped up in my emotions and get married young to the wrong woman at a time when I was still "finding myself." The easy decision would be to succumb to my emotional impatience and get married fast, only to get divorced years later while enduring the financial turmoil that comes from it. The hard decision to leave cold Chicago for sunny Arizona with no job and no money. The easy decision would be to stay and argue that my friends and family are in Chitown! The easy decision would have eroded my happiness, motivation, and zest for life.   The hard decision to save and invest a lot of my outsized earnings when I was in my thirties. Instead of buying a fleet of Lambos, I bought one every few years. As such, I can still live the same luxurious life with zero financial stress for the rest of my life. The easy decision would have been to spend everything, avoiding tax burdens and the long game. The hard decision to change my diet. After suffering many chronic health issues in my 30s and early 40s, I made the hard decision to change what I shove into my mouth, which requires daily, if not hourly, discipline. The easy decision would be to continue eating whatever I wanted (the standard American diet), while neglecting the consequences. The hard decision to make fitness a priority in my life. The easy decision to sit on the couch and play video games.   The hard decision to continually educate myself. The easy decision would be to binge Netflix and continually entertain myself like the average person.

Every day, you face numerous choices, from the trivial to the complex. However, the hard decisions are the ones that require courage and sacrifice. Ultimately these are the ones that pave the way for a more comfortable life. This may seem paradoxical, but there's tremendous power in embracing the tough choices as they force you to confront your fears, shortcomings, and even your deepest desires. The hard decisions compel you to face reality and take responsibility for your circumstances. Choosing to end a toxic relationship, quitting a job to pursue a dream, or accepting a move to a new city for better opportunities are all examples of hard decisions that initially brought me discomfort but eventually led to personal growth and an easier life.

Hard decisions require courage and sacrifice and pave the way for a more comfortable life.

The power of hard choices lies in their transformative nature. They reshape your life, push you out of your comfort zones and test your resilience. This doesn't mean the path after the hard decision will be smooth, but it ensures that you move forward instead of staying stagnant. In the process, they develop your problem-solving abilities, enhance your emotional intelligence, and increase your adaptability. These invaluable skills make life more manageable with less anxiety and stress. Less of those = better life. The ex-coach of the Phoenix Suns, Monty Williams, always said, "Everything you want is on the other side of hard." Hard is making the hard choices because they often involve risk and/or sacrifice. Risk is a necessary ingredient for growth and success. Making tough choices often means sacrificing short-term comfort for long-term gain. In doing so, we learn to manage and mitigate risk and understand that failure is not fatal but an opportunity to learn and grow.

Failure is not fatal.

Everything you want is on the other side of HARD.

Difficult choices often pave the path to an easier life.

Whether you agree or not, your superpower is your ability to decide.

To choose.

To work daily toward a life you want to live.

I recognized my superpower young— the idea that I was the architect of my life through choice—and it transformed my life into a dream. Making the easy decisions would have made it hard.

Decide to make the hard decisions.

Or let the easy decisions create a hard life.