"When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?" — Sydney J. Harris

I really believe the vast majority of people would say that life is hard. I want to know why people think that life is hard. Is it because these people have problems? Is it because they feel trapped in their lives? Why is life hard?

I suspect that life is just like everything else in the universe. It is hard until it becomes easy. How do you take something that is hard and make it easy? To start with, there are a lot of tasks that become easy if you take the time to practice. I’ve watched my daughter at her dance lessons. The teacher will demonstrate a particular dance step, then have the students follow along with her, then she has them practice it, and then they will practice the dance step again. The next week, they will practice the dance step again. For weeks they will practice the dance step again and again. Soon almost everyone in the class will be performing that step smoothly and gracefully and will be working on the next new dance move.

There are still other things in life that become easier when you understand them better. This often requires learning more about how something works. You may need to read a book, you may need to take a class, you might attend a seminar or a demonstration. However, once you have a better understanding of how something works it becomes less frustrating which makes working with it easier. I know of a person who was put in charge of an area that no one wanted because it was “hard”. What this person found out was that no one really understood how this area was supposed to work. He took the time to learn – it took a long time and a lot of effort. Once he understood how it all worked, how all of the pieces all were supposed to fit together, he was able to make some changes that improved the operation significantly. Now he is THE recognized expert and has a unique position on the corporate ladder. It was hard, but now it’s much, much easier.

Finally, a lot of things are hard because we don’t want to change. Its absolutely amazing how easy something can become if you are willing to make a relatively little change in the way you do something or the way you look at something. I teach people how to use computers. Most often I find that I teach people how to use computers more efficiently. From many years of experience I have found the same thing over and over. When someone complains how difficult something is, it is because they are clinging to an inefficient, but familiar, method for doing something. I have told my classes over and over, “if something you are doing seems hard, its because you are doing it wrong!” Most of the time, I can show people in minutes a better, more efficient, easier way to accomplish their task. The only time the new method doesn’t help make their task easier is when they refuse to change and cling to their old methods because they are familiar.

For what its worth, life is hard because of a lack of practice, lack of knowledge, and an unwillingness to change.