I just hit a major goal this week: getting my “Whoop Age” 10 years younger than my actual age. It’s a seminal example of the Hard/Easy Paradox, specifically, The Rule of Persistence as highlighted in Choose Hard, Live Easy – The Art of War for Decision-Making.
The Rule of Persistence states that whatever you repeatedly choose in the short term, its Polarity will persist and endure in the long term.
Choose Easy? You not only GET Hard, you LIVE Hard.
Choose Hard? You not only GET Easy, you LIVE Easy.
Back to my achievement of biometrically being 10 years younger…
The thing is, I don’t feel 56 (real age) or 47 (biometric age)… I feel more like 35.
The point is, this state of EASE persists! I live it every moment of the day; it has become my default state of being.
And yet, what is the price of this ease? What is the cost of enjoying this level of health and fitness?
I Choose Hard. And those “discomforts” of Hard are short-term and transient. Fleeting and temporarily painful, inconvenient, or sacrificial.
- I choose Hard: I banish screens from my bed.
- I choose Hard: I’m in bed and ready for sleep by 10:30 PM.
- I choose Hard: I do not eat three hours before bedtime.
- I choose Hard: I regularly exercise, lift weights, jump rope, and stretch.
- I choose Hard: I eat a mostly plant-based diet and avoid processed junk and fast food.
- I choose Hard: I don’t drink alcohol.
Each “HARD” I choose is a temporary sacrifice– a fleeting discomfort that doesn’t last. The result? I get EASE as a permanent state of being.
The question is… how much MONEY would you pay for an extra 10 QUALITY YEARS of life? No, I’m not talking about 10 years in a wheelchair staring at a wall.
I mean 10 years of whatever stirs your soul: Travel, pickleball, skiing, time with the grandkids…
$500K? $5 million? $10 million?
Whatever the number, that price cannot be paid with money. It must be paid with HARD.
Of course, none of this might matter. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow or struck down by some random disease. But the point is twofold:
- I’m putting the probability and the odds in MY FAVOR.
- I’m making the hard choices and accepting temporary sacrifices so I can endure EASE every minute of the day. That Ease is not felt for a weekend or a few days a month—it’s felt EVERY. DAMN. MOMENT.
Eventually, that “future self” will become your “present self” and that person will either suffer or savor.
This isn’t just about health; it applies to every facet of your existence. Your career. Your finances. Your relationships. What Hard investment are you refusing to make right now? By dodging the cost today, you are forcing “future you” to pay the bill for your current negligence.
Unsure about the quality of your decision-making? Take the DEFCON Decision Test and learn exactly where you stand.
Choose Hard so you may Live Easy. Future you will thank you, or it will hate you. But of course, it’s your choice, your move, and your life.
MJ DeMarco, Author/Entrepreneur
Choose Hard, Live Easy: Now Available in All Formats.
Live your best life. Protect against your worst. No matter which reality unfolds, you will endure that reality as a state of existence. Will it be suffering? Or joy? 5 parables. 70 decision weapons. Memorable, actionable tactics to recall and execute in the crossfire of decision. 344 pages. 13 hours. And like my other three books, it took me 4 long years to write, LOL. Buy on Amazon