This may not be the first time you’ve found yourself downwind from my lambaste of our culture’s literacy, and it likely will not be the last. Everything is hyperbole (this statement included). From casual conversations and recollections of interactions, to drama in family and friend groups, sports “analysts” on ESPN, politics, occupation-related situations, and even theological concepts - people are dramatizing and exaggerating all the time. The question isn’t “Why?” either, because we know that drama and embellishment make things exciting. We also know that we live the cushiest lives that this world has ever seen, and truly exciting moments can come few and far between.

I had a defensive coordinator in college who was not only a great coach, but a great leader of men. One of his favorite and frequent proverbs was, “Things don’t just happen.” While this may seem a bit vague, you can easily apply it to almost any subject matter of high or low resolution. Choose one listed in the above paragraph and try it. My coach is right. Inanimate objects, ideas, goals, dreams - they don’t just come to life on their own volition. Even powerful entities like spirits, energy and ideals need a vessel through which they can act upon the world. We are that vessel. Action and agency in this life must go through people. The only exceptions to this are likely God and nature. I’d like to hone in on a very specific topic, one that I deal with on a near-daily basis.

Difficulty. “Easy” vs. “Hard.” In the context of my job, I hear the literal words of people claiming all the time that a movement, a workout, or their perception of physical exercise at any given moment is “easy” or “hard.” That’s never sat right with me, and believe you me I don’t let it fly. Ask any of my athletes. Things don’t just happen. Unerringly, exercise literally never gets easier or harder. It’s simple physics. Let’s take an age-old example: the conventional deadlift vs. the sumo deadlift. If two identical people both lift the exact same weight, but one lifts with a conventional deadlift technique and the other lifts with a sumo deadlift technique, you might say that the sumo lift was easier. I would say, more accurately, that the sumo lifter did less work.

Conventional deadlift (left) vs. sumo deadlift (right)

For all of you that didn’t pay attention in high school physics, the formula for work is a simple one. W=Fd. The amount of work done is always equal to the amount of force applied multiplied by the displacement (distance, for our purposes). So in this scenario, the force would have to be greater than the weight on the bar so that the lifter can actually lift the bar against gravity. The displacement is simply the amount of distance that the lifter would have to take the bar to reach the top of the deadlift. Well, we already established that not only are both lifters picking up the same amount of weight and that they’re identical people, so you can’t argue that one is stronger than the other. So, the only difference is the distance that each lifter had to take the weight. Clearly, the conventional lifter had to go further. In every sense, the sumo lifter did literally less work. So, is sumo easier or harder? Wrong question. Sumo is less work. You have to displace the weight less. For my fellow meatheads out there, this does not in any way settle the debate of “is sumo cheating?” so don’t even think about propagating that I’ve attempted to make such a claim here.

Finally, let’s remove the variable of another person. Let’s talk about you. Take a task, any objective task that has clearly defined parameters that you do on occasion. Sometimes you perceive that task as “easy” and sometimes it’s “harder.” Why? We’ve already proved that tasks don’t change. You know the Work formula now, so you can’t claim that things get easier or harder. What’s the difference, what has actually changed? There are only so many variables to the equation of work in your life. The one that’s subject to change the most is you. You are the source of growth or decay. You get stronger or weaker. You become more capable or more incompetent. You become wiser or more foolish. The world doesn’t pass us by, we remain stagnant. You become more resilient or you atrophy. You have agency, sovereignty, consciousness, willpower. Stop using the words “easy” and “hard.” Take responsibility. Things don’t just happen.