Hello my friend,

What came first, the chicken or the egg? In this case, the chicken is an experience in our life. The egg is the mindset we have about the experience.

When I was a young writer in advertising and we had to pull all-nighters, like it would for most anybody, it stressed me out. On the Fridays that we’d find out we had to work the weekend, the groans were audible. That’s when the back pain and muscle strains began, the alcohol came out, someone would go buy a fresh pack of cigarettes, and we slogged reluctantly through the work.

We thought the drinking and pizza made the work tolerable, but we were really reinforcing the subconscious idea that the work was terrible and unbearable without those things.

It wasn’t until I later struck out on my own as a freelancer for a few years in order to save up for my journey to India, and started charging hourly rates, that I got excited for late nights and weekends. I could work days on end happily, gratefully, and stress-free. The work was the same. The mindset was different.

The moral of the story here, and the lesson I learned years later, was not that money and appreciation for overtime are the answer (although they are undoubtedly better than the alternative). It was that our mindset creates our experience.

I was resisting work. I had an inner critic and complainer. It didn’t stop when I became a freelancer. It just had a different narrative around overtime, but the stress and negativity were still there. That experience was the spark that made me realize our mental story creates our reality.

As I spent more time observing my thoughts, I began to notice how my conditioned mind resisted work and sought laziness and pleasure. When I shifted my mindset to finding work and arduous tasks pleasing, my experience of those tasks shifted too.

There’s no reason to hate work. In fact, honest work is one of the most noble things we can do. There’s no reason to hate anything we have to do in life. Enduring hardship brings growth, wisdom and empathy.

We can bring joy, presence and gratitude to any situation. When we do, every experience becomes joyful. When we do everything with love, we love everything we do.

All you have to do is:

1. Watch out for negative and fearful thoughts.
2. Remember they are not real or objective truth.
3. Intentionally and consciously shift those thoughts toward love and excitement. Really get excited for what you have to do.
4. Then do it with your full attention and being.

How we approach anything determines how we experience and feel about everything. Do we sit down to work excited and joyful, or angry and miserable? With a proper mindset, everything can be a pleasure. We just have to love everything — even the hard stuff.

I used to throw up before job interviews, press interviews, and big presentations because of stress and anxiety. Today, I love any opportunity to grow, practice, and even fail. I love a good challenge, a tricky obstacle, and a fun puzzle to solve.

You can too.

P.S. Here are some other topics that I covered this week:

1. Why do we fall for the reputation trap? And how to avoid it? (Watch Here)
2. What happens when we die? (Watch Here)
3. Can you really change habits you’ve held for years? (Listen Here)

Much love,
Todd