How do you feel when I say that word, struggle?

It’s a very uncomfortable feeling.

Struggling.

But really, struggling just means that you’re not accomplishing what you want to accomplish.

Whatever task you have at that present moment feels like a mountain that you need to climb.

Not fun.

Lately, I’ve been learning the stock market.

In the beginning I was doing well, but then I hit a pitfall. I had one bad day.

Ever since then, what was once fun has been a complete struggle.

And yet, I continue to study. I continue to read, watch videos, take courses.

But still I continue to have a daily struggle.

I’ve probably spent about 4 hours a day trading the market. Most of the time I break even.

It’s a struggle.

It’s a struggle to overcome my fears.

I have fear when I’m in there.

Am I going to lose? Am I going to lose money? Let me get out, fast, I don’t want to lose.

I’ve got that whole have-to-win mentality, when in reality, losing is all part of the game, and it’s all part of life.

Nobody can win all the time.

Nobody, not even Bill Belichick.

Not even Tom Brady.

Nobody wins all the time.

There are losses in life.

And through the losses, you actually learn some of the most valuable lessons that you ever can have.

To get over the hump.

To get to the next level of you, it’s going to be a struggle.

There’s no way around it.

Because if there was a way around it, we’d all figure it out and we’d all buy a program, a drug, whatever it might be to get around the struggle.

I sit in my struggles four hours a day. It’s not fun.

It’s not fun to be in a chat room and hear people makes lots of money on plays that I was too afraid to take.

The minute I hear that, I immediately go into feeling defeated, feeling uptight and insecure.

And then, what happens next is I struggle even more.

Because that’s what we do in life.

You’re out at a bar.

You see some guy approach some beautiful girl and they leave together.

And then, you feel defeated.

You feel like it’s never going to happen for you and your start getting in your head and comparing yourself to somebody who has probably worked really hard on themselves, struggled a lot and finally got over it.

We don’t look at that.

We just look at the instant result that happened to come up in that moment, that trigger of feeling not worthy.

You’re trying to lose weight, and you’re at the gym, and you’re doing well. And then, you see somebody who’s in great shape. You don’t know their story at all, but you still think to yourself, man, when is that going to happen to me.

Or your neighbor is making a lot of money and they go on great vacations and you’re struggling right now. You wish you could go on those vacations but you’re struggling to build a business and you’re struggling to make your life fantastic. And then, you feel worse.

It’s human nature because when we’re struggling we look at other people who are doing well and we think to ourselves, man, are we ever going to get there? Are we ever going to get to the point where we want to go? Are we ever going to get to the point where we’re able to get past our struggles?

The answer is yes.

It may not feel that way in the moment.

It may feel like the struggle is going to last forever, but if you continue to put in the time, don’t make the excuses and continue to do the work, you will get past whatever you’re struggling with in whatever timeframe it’s meant to be.

The old cliche Rome wasn’t built in a day rings true.

When you’re working on something that has been an Achilles heel for you so long, it’s going to take a lot more time than being what we all wish to be: an overnight sensation.