Do Hard Things
I've built a habit of always choosing the harder path - and it's something I've been doing my entire life. From a young age, I've consistently leaned into challenges, sought out uncomfortable experiences, and pushed beyond what felt easy or safe. It's this lifelong mindset that ultimately changed everything for me.
When I decided to leave Sri Lanka and move halfway across the world to San Francisco to build Marketrix AI, I knew it wouldn’t be easy. Navigating visa hurdles, raising capital, building a team from scratch, and adapting to a completely different culture pushed me far beyond my comfort zone. It felt intimidating, stressful, even overwhelming at times.
But every single hard choice shaped who I am today - as a founder, as a partner, and as a person.
Here's why choosing the tougher path has been the most powerful decision I’ve made, and why I now seek out discomfort as a daily habit.
Why Hard Things Matter (Especially for Founders)
The default human response is to avoid discomfort. But founders who build great companies or products understand something critical:
Growth only happens in the discomfort zone.
If you always pick the easier path, you never develop the mental toughness, skill set, and resilience you need to win.
Hard things are training. They force you to level up.
When I committed to waking up consistently at 4 AM, visualizing my day, and hitting a 5 AM workout, it wasn’t because I loved waking up before sunrise - it was because the clarity, discipline, and control those early hours provided changed the trajectory of my days (and my life).
Choosing hard things is about embracing temporary discomfort to create long-term success.
Three Ways Doing Hard Things Changed My Life
1. It Made Me More Disciplined
Discipline isn’t something you’re born with; it’s something you practice.
Waking up at 4 AM to visualize, plan my day, and exercise created a foundation of discipline that now permeates every area of my life. I’m not waiting for motivation - I’m doing the work regardless of how I feel. That’s been crucial not only in business but in every area, from family management to personal finance.
The consistency I built by doing something hard first thing each day gave me the momentum to tackle everything else with the same mindset.
2. It Made Me a Better Decision-Maker
The best decisions often aren’t easy. Moving to San Francisco, committing fully to building Marketrix, and risking public rejection through pitches and investor meetings were all tough decisions.
Each time I leaned into discomfort and uncertainty, I sharpened my judgment. The harder the decision, the clearer I had to think.
Now, I embrace challenging decisions, because I know they’re where my greatest growth happens.
3. It Accelerated My Growth
Every time I embraced discomfort, my growth accelerated exponentially. I learned:
How to navigate complex immigration processes efficiently.
How to clearly articulate a vision to investors (even after rejection).
How to rapidly iterate and improve based on brutally honest feedback.
Doing hard things constantly exposed me to learning curves that would otherwise take years to experience.
My Framework for Doing Hard Things
Over time, I built a framework around embracing challenges rather than running from them:
Identify Discomfort as a Signal: If it feels difficult, there’s probably growth hiding on the other side.
Commit Publicly – Tell people you’re going to do something tough. It creates accountability.
Break It Down – Big goals become achievable when broken down into daily habits.
Track Your Progress – Seeing your consistency builds confidence.
Celebrate Small Wins – Reinforce your brain to enjoy doing tough things.
This process has made me embrace challenges rather than avoid them. It’s changed my entire approach to life and business.
Why Most People Avoid Doing Hard Things
Most people know they should do hard things but don’t. Why?
Comfort is addictive – Netflix, scrolling, easy jobs - they all offer instant dopamine without effort.
Fear of failure or rejection keeps them from taking real risks.
Immediate gratification is easier to chase than long-term success.
But this avoidance is exactly why doing hard things creates a competitive advantage.
When everyone else is looking for shortcuts, you’re quietly building discipline, resilience, and a skill set others simply don’t have.
Hard Things I’m Doing Right Now
Today, doing hard things has become my default mode:
I consistently wake up at 4 AM, using the golden hours from 4 AM to 6 AM to visualize, plan, workout, and reflect without distractions.
I'm rigorous about documenting decisions, even uncomfortable ones, in my decision journal to improve future outcomes.
I'm relentlessly building my second brain in Notion, even though it takes discipline to structure and maintain it.
I'm actively having challenging conversations with my team, investors, and even family, because avoiding them doesn’t solve problems - it amplifies them.
My Advice for You
If something feels hard, scary, or uncomfortable, do it anyway. Hard things are rarely convenient, but they’re always rewarding.
Here’s my practical advice if you’re ready to start doing hard things today:
If waking up at 4 AM seems impossible, start by waking up just 30 minutes earlier.
If building a startup seems intimidating, start by validating one idea this week.
If public speaking terrifies you, commit to speaking up at your next meeting or creating one video this month.
Doing something hard consistently rewires your brain from fear-driven to growth-driven.
The Rule I Live By
Here’s a rule that guides my daily decisions:
If it feels uncomfortable, difficult, or intimidating, it’s probably worth doing.
Easy paths create comfort today but regret tomorrow.
Hard paths build the skills, mindset, and outcomes that set you apart.
Choose discomfort.
The Life-Changing Mindset Shift
When you consistently embrace the tougher path, something powerful happens:
You begin to trust yourself deeply.
You start to believe that whatever challenge arises, you’ll figure it out.
You move faster because you’re no longer paralyzed by indecision.
This shift from comfort-seeking to growth-seeking has transformed my life - personally, professionally, and financially.
Final Thoughts: Choose Your Hard
There’s a saying that sticks with me:
“If you do what’s easy, life will be hard. If you do what’s hard, life will be easy.”
I’ve experienced this firsthand. Every meaningful outcome in my life came from willingly doing something difficult. The price of success isn’t talent or luck - it’s discipline, courage, and persistence.
So the next time you’re faced with a tough choice, a big decision, or something that scares you, choose the hard thing. Because easy things don’t change your life - hard things do.
If this resonated, I write regularly on discipline, startup life, and mindset shifts.
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Have you embraced doing hard things in your life? I'd love to hear how it changed you.