It’s Supposed to Be Hard – How to Push Through The Struggle by Remembering Your Why

If you’ve been in business for a number of years now, you’ll know that there are hard times and there are easy times – but here’s the good news: it’s supposed to be hard. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

But you’re not everybody, you started this thing with a big dream, and sometimes – when steep slopes appear – it can be impossible to see the other side.

But you keep climbing anyways, and you keep climbing because you have your why.

Having your why is how you push through the struggle. No one else can decide this why for you. It is very personal, and it’s something that only you can fully understand and grasp.

Your why is what got you going in the first place, and from time to time – we forget what that why is. Time passes, people change, circumstances shift – and we evolve our approach and ways of thinking.

But try to remember… What was your why? Was the starting of this thing so you could build a better life for you and your wife or your husband? Maybe it was for your kids. Maybe you started it so you could take care of your mum and dad one day when they need it.

Maybe you had a childhood experience that you want to recreate, something that makes you want to bring back a piece of the past.

Maybe you want to change the world, even if it’s just one person at a time, one instance at a time. Whatever the situation, and whatever the alternative to these possibilities that I’ve shared, do what you must to remember your why.

Now, challenging times arise. Maybe an employee lies to you and puts you in an uncomfortable position. Maybe a potential client backed out at the 11^th hour. Maybe you invested a lot into a certain direction in the company, and you were wrong.

Regardless, these things happen. And one thing is for certain, the thing that got you here was remembering why you’re taking all of these risks. Because that’s what business ownership is, isn’t it?

Owning your own business is about acquiring knowledge, and taking risks by placing bets on yourself with that knowledge. 

The things that you’ve learned have gotten you to this point, and all growth is incremental. Nothing is the straight shot of a line of growth that we imagine it’s going to be. We get started on our entrepreneurial journeys, and it’s all up – which makes sense. It makes sense because we’re starting at zero.

You gradually move up from zero and you hit a snag. You figure “oh well, these things happen,” and you stand up and dust yourself off. Now if you keep picturing this graph, you grow again for a length of time, and then you hit another dip.

This time you curse out loud, but you still stand up and brush yourself off.

These dips – they never end. But here’s the thing: with each one, you’re getting stronger and stronger. They literally never go away. But as you grow and acquire more resources and bargaining power, the dips become less painful.

To get you through the dips as you grow, remember why you started this in the first place. If that reason why doesn’t hold any meaning for you anymore, then you need to give yourself a new why. It’s the only reason we get out of bed in the morning.

There needs to be a why to the things that we do every day.

Keep your why close, and this will help to push you through the hard times, without fail – each and every time.

To Your Success,

Jay Ashcroft

Ashcroft Media Co.