Wedding Business Solutions

Learn to handle hard better!

July 31, 2024 • Alan Berg, CSP, Global Speaking Fellow

Share episode

Learn to handle hard better!

What challenges are you avoiding because they seem too difficult? Are there tasks you’re hesitant to start because they're tough? In this episode, I delve into the importance of embracing hard tasks and how mastering them can lead to personal and professional growth. I share insights inspired by Duke women's basketball coach Kara Lawson's powerful message about handling hard better.

Listen to this new 6-minute episode for valuable lessons on pushing through challenges and achieving satisfaction from overcoming obstacles.

Link to video: https://youtu.be/oDzfZOfNki4?si=FC8pCndMG2bYlchl

If you have any questions about anything in this, or any of my podcasts, or have a suggestion for a topic or guest, please reach out directly to me at Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or visit my website Podcast.AlanBerg.com 


Please be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave a review (thanks, it really does make a difference). If you want to get notifications of new episodes and upcoming workshops and webinars, you can sign up at www.ConnectWithAlanBerg.com  


Want to see about having me come for private sales training, or a mastermind (bring together some industry friends to have me spend a day with you all)? Reach out to me at Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or text or call +1.732.422.6362

I'm Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you'd like to suggest other topics for "The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast" please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.

Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:

©2024 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com

Learn to handle hard better. Listen to this episode. See where I'm going. Hi, it's Alan Berg. Welcome back to another episode of the Wedding Business Solutions podcast. I recently had the pleasure of watching a very short video by Kara Lawson, who is the Duke women's basketball coach. She's a former WNBA player and she's the coach at Duke. It's a two and a half minute, three minute video where she talking to her team about how things don't get easier in life.


You just learn to handle hard better if you're sitting around waiting for it to get easier, she said. It doesn't. You just get better at handling hard, which I guess makes it feel easier to you because you learn how to do that better. But it's really, really interesting. If you get a chance, the link will be in the show notes and in the transcript as well to watch this video on YouTube. Or you can look it up. Kara Lawson Kara with a Kara Lawson do handle hard better. And I think it's very impactful.


I think this should be played for kids in middle school and in high school and certainly in college and then as adults, because we all need this reminder that don't sit around waiting for things to get easier. You get better at something makes it feel easier. You learning to master it makes it feel easier. I remember when I put up that I had hit 1000 days of french lessons on Duolingo, and I put it up on my social media and I said, this isn't here to brag. This is here to say, am I really better at languages? Or is the fact that I've done this for 1000 days in a row what makes me better at able to understand French and really what it is? I don't know if I'm better because I can't compare me to anybody else. I don't have any benchmark. There will never be a good benchmark to say, am I better at a language than somebody else? But am I better than I was yesterday? Which is a lesson that I've spoken about certainly here, certainly in my books, certainly in my life, I learned that when I was doing taekwondo. And again, if you don't know, I started when I was 39.


1st degree black belt, 42, 2nd degree at 44, hurt my back at 46, six months from a third degree. And we were taught not to go for perfection. We were taught to just be better than we were the last time. And that's what this is. My favorite days on Duolingo is when it's kicking my butt, because that means I don't know it. And then when I get past that point, it means I've learned. And this is an example of me learning to handle hard better, as opposed to, I can't do this, I'm giving up. And I'm certainly a younger me.


As a child, I didn't even maybe try something if I didn't think I could be good at it. I didn't want to look silly doing it. And now I don't care. I just don't. I don't care if I look silly. If I want to try it, I'm going to try it. And if I'm able to do it better, great. If I'm able to do it well, even better.


If I'm able to master it at some point, fantastic. But the idea is I'm able to handle hard better. And that makes it, when you get to that a certain point, it makes it seem easier. It didn't get easier. I got better. What are you not doing now because it's hard. What are you not even starting because you think it's hard? We have to start. Everything starts with one step.


What was it? Lao Tzu. The journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step. We just have to start. And then, yeah, it's going to be hard. And anything worth doing is going to be hard. Anything worth achieving. Isn't it much more satisfying if it was hard and you're able to achieve something than if it was easy? That's not satisfying. If anybody can do this, is that satisfying if you're able to get past the point where it's hard and you're thinking about giving up, but, you know, no, I want to get to that point.


I want to. I want to get to the mountaintop, whatever it is, right? I did a podcast earlier. I've written a chapter about this with crossword puzzles. I used to do crossword puzzles every day. I play other word games now, wordle and spelling bee and others. And I still occasionally do crossword puzzles. And when I'm not getting it, I put it down and then I come back and yes, it's hard, but when you finish that, it's satisfying, right? Think about if you do jigsaw puzzles, right? You ever do like a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle and you're just getting stuck at a certain point, you walk away and you come back and you see a piece like, oh, there you go. Doesn't it feel that much better because it was hard and now you're able to get past it.


I think that's the important part, and that's the part of her lesson here, handling hard better. It's coming from you within saying if I want that result, I'm willing to work for it. I'm willing to go through that right. And it didn't get easier. It's not going to get easier. That's her lesson. She's pretty straightforward with it. She's saying it will not get easier if you're waiting for it to get easier.


It won't. She says it straight out. But you learn how to handle hard better and that's going to let you achieve these things because you're able to push through it, you're able to slog through it. So please take less than three minutes and watch that video and see if you don't feel kind of the same way that I did when I watch it that I wanted to share that with you. So thanks for listening and I hope you find it beneficial.


I’m Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you’d like to suggest other topics for “The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast” please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or you can  text, use the short form on this page, or call +1.732.422.6362, international 001 732 422 6362. I look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.

Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:

©2024 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com