Success Begins Where Easy Ends

By: jwilder, 7/16/2025

How my training kicked in and defused my chronic frustration.

Everyone loves easy. Easy is the life of the party. But sometimes easy becomes difficult. That’s when everybody sneaks out to find another party.

Not many people love difficult. Difficult is misunderstood. But difficult can take you to a future you could have never imagined.

Sometimes we make it through difficulty because we have to. We do it with brute force. It's a battle. It takes an emotional toll.

But, difficult doesn't have to be a test of your pain threshold. I learned this like everyone else. One of those days showed up. I was tired. I had gone down another dead end. I questioned everything I was doing. With clenched jaw, I said "This is just too hard! It's impossible." Then something different happened. I was surrounded by a beautiful light. I felt a sense of peace. The darkness lifted, and I could see. OK, not really, but it was almost like that.

What I experienced was the result of my training. The first time you experience your training kick in, it's exciting! That's what happened. You know, that beautiful light.

Training? Yes! All dream builders must train.

What Does Difficult Mean?

Frustration is an unpleasant feeling. It's not comfortable. I have spent most of my life avoiding the uncomfortable. But some uncomfortable feelings are acceptable when you are working to achieve something you desire.

When I had my "beautiful light" experience, I saw my difficult experience differently. I saw it as good. This is the power of a mindset shift.

When I had the epiphany that difficult is good, it defused my frustration. I got this big grin on my face. Ah-ha, I get it! Success begins where easy ends.

Redefine The Meaning, Change The Response

The meaning we give to our circumstances determines our response.

For most of my life I responded to prolonged difficulty with frustration. But, difficult doesn't have to mean frustration. It doesn't have to derail you like a locomotive jumping track on a bridge with all its cars following to destruction in a twisted mass of scalding iron. Noooo! There is a better way.

Difficult can take on an empowering meaning when you do something meaningful.

Difficult means that there are few people who are willing to do what you are doing. You're one of the few!

Difficult means value. Law is difficult. Surgery is difficult. Building air conditioners is difficult, and they are so appreciated in the heat of the summer. In other words, difficult means learning something of high value. You have what people want!

Difficult means you are fulfilling your potential. You are on the right path. You are destined for greatness!

For the person who is building their dreams, difficult is good. Difficult is the way.

The Value of Success Principles

There is a reason why athletes hire personal trainers and business leaders hire performance coaches. When we pursue our dreams we encounter our weaknesses. We see our current ways are insufficient and search for solutions. We realize the value of success principles because they are exactly what we need to move forward.

This is the key: "Difficult" can be "empowering" when you do something meaningful.

Redefining a difficult experience is powerful. By creating empowering meanings we can create empowering responses, and therefore avoid emotional turmoil and save time that is needlessly wasted.

The result is, we can go through difficulties with more calm, make good progress, and know that we are fulfilling our potential while adding value to our life and others. Woah! Sound good? This is why I write books about success principles and living your dreams.

Get the Books and take your dream from no plan to UNSTOPPABLE!

James Wilder

I help you take your dream from no plan to UNSTOPPABLE.