In short: Every path is hard, in your health and in your business, so the real question is which hard you choose. The same thinking applies to working on the business, not in it: focus on what makes the difference, know your purpose and enjoy the journey.

This weekend I read Choose Your Hard by Prof Grant Schofield, who, like me, lives in Tairua, in his case whenever he is out of Auckland. The book is about the choices you make with your health, and while doing the right thing is hard at times, it is worth it in the long run.

It is easier to have the junk food once or twice a week, an extra glass or two of wine on a school night, or to miss a few gym sessions, and then find out that making a change is that bit harder because you are that bit older, and inevitably there are a few more reasons to stay put. The question underneath it all is a big one: can you really do what you want to do as you age?

I found myself saying “yes, yes, yes” throughout my reading, as Grant refers to so many of the books I do. He focuses on health, while I bring them into business mindset, strategy and leadership with the leaders I work with. Bill Perkins’ Die with Zero is one of them: enjoy the money you work hard to achieve, work smart, sell when you have enough and live life, while you have the energy and health to enjoy the experiences.

Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning is another. Frankl spent three years in Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and saw that the people who held on to hope were the ones with something still to live for. He borrowed a line from Nietzsche, that those who have a why to live for can bear almost any how, and it is as true for a leader growing a business as it is for anyone trying to get fitter.

I enjoyed Grant’s prescriptions too, which line up beautifully with my own focus on strategy and quarterly sprints, because the goal in both is to keep moving forward. So here are the nudges for me, because I want to stay active and keep living a life of quality for many years to come: step up the strength training, walk up some hills, enjoy the hot and cold of sauna and sea (a shout-out to The Sauna Project in Tairua), and get out in the sunshine more for my vitamin D.

Somewhere around my third “yes”, it struck me that Grant and I are writing the same prescription, his for the body and mine for the business.

What does choosing your hard look like in business?

The easy hard in business is the one that feels comfortable today: answering every question yourself because it is quicker, being the only person the big clients will ring, and bumping the strategy day because it has been a big month. Each choice is small on its own, much like that extra glass of wine mid-week, and together they keep you working in the business instead of on it, which makes growth harder every year.

The other hard is uncomfortable while you are doing it and pays you back for years. A useful test comes from Jesse Sostrin’s distinction in Harvard Business Review between being involved and being essential: if you stepped away for a month, would your priorities keep moving, or would they wait for you to come back?

How do you start working on the business, not in it?

Focus on the things that make the difference. Working on the business works the same way as Grant’s prescriptions, with a few priorities done properly, quarter by quarter, which is the thinking behind setting goals in quarterly sprints. Of course it is hard at times, otherwise everyone would be excelling.

Know your purpose, because Frankl was right: the hard is far easier to choose when you know what it is for. When I work with business owners as their executive coach, the why behind the plan matters as much as the plan itself, and it is what keeps a leadership team going when the quarter gets tough.

Enjoy the journey, which is Perkins’ point too. The growth, the success and the money are there to be enjoyed while you have the energy and health to enjoy them, which is why choosing your future intentionally matters as much in business as it does in health.

So, which hard are you choosing at the moment, in your business and in your health?

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