Do Hard Things

Build the muscle early

The difference between good and great isn't just talent. It's the willingness to do hard things consistently. I learned this the hard way.

Ten years ago, I left a promotion and massive pay bump at LinkedIn to become the first PM at a 10-person startup. Trading a structured product with infinite distribution for the messy search for product-market fit tested me daily. That first leap gave me the confidence—or naivety—to do three more startups in a row.

The muscle fades fast. I see it in friends who stayed too long at big tech companies. Good pay, slow pace, endless vacations. Long hours become a substitute for hard decisions. The comfort feels perfect until they try a startup. The pace feels impossible, the chaos unbearable. As AI automates the routine, only the problems worth solving remain—the ones that demand judgment over hours, conviction over comfort.

Getting good at these hard things doesn't make life easier—it makes you responsible for harder problems. But that's the point. Everyone faces difficult decisions. The difference is those who built this muscle early get to choose which hard problems they want to solve. Everyone else takes whatever hard problems life hands them. Start before life gets complex—before each new responsibility makes every risk feel heavier.

Like elite athletes, knowing when to push matters as much as the push itself. Doing hard things without purpose burns you out. Doing them without rest breaks you down. Build the muscle to recognize not just which challenges matter, but when they matter.

Intensity gets attention. Consistency builds empires.