Doing Hard Things (and Keeping the Receipts)
How Physical Challenges Forge Mental Armor (and Why It’s Never Too Late to Start)
Post Summary:
Choosing hard things sharpens your mind, body, and resilience.
Physical challenges create earned dopamine and a clearer mental state.
You lose the benefit if you stop choosing discomfort.
The receipts are proof: you did it when it sucked—and kept doing it.
You’ll need that grit when life throws something at you.
“We are living progressively sheltered, sterile, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged, safety-netted lives.” –
Hard things and tests are coming for all of us. Life will throw something your way eventually loss, illness, chaos. When it does, the reps you’ve done before matter. The receipts matter.
Choosing to do physically challenging things builds mental armor. It’s not just about pride or strength. It’s about being ready. Grit fades if you don’t keep working that muscle. And science supports this. If you did something really hard 10 years ago but haven’t consistently challenged yourself since—then that version of you is a thing of the past. The edge fades. The lessons lose their sharpness. And when life hits, you won’t be able to reach for strength you haven’t maintained.
There's a range of science to back this—from Carol Dweck's work on grit and growth mindset to research on how the anterior midcingulate cortex physically changes depending on the challenges you give it. This is not just motivational fluff. Your brain and body adapt to the stimulus—or the lack of it.
A 2023 article in The Washington Post quoted health experts who explain that intentionally stressing the body through exercise literally trains us to handle life stress better. One said, “By stressing our physical muscles, we can increase our capacity to cope with daily stress.” Resilience, like strength, is built under resistance.
Dr. Joe Risser shared in a 2025 TEDx talk that physical challenge increases a brain protein called BDNF—what he calls “fertilizer” for your brain. This protein boosts learning, memory, and mental toughness. That’s biology, not belief.
And in a 2020 Frontiers in Psychology article, Angela Duckworth and colleagues showed that grittier individuals are more likely to have habitual exercise routines. It’s not just about toughness—it’s about the behaviors that reinforce it daily. Doing hard things physically reinforces your ability to show up mentally. A psychological feedback loop.
I've seen people reference the past as proof of their grit, but that tether wears thin over time. Few people actually know what they’re capable of today. Testing your limits how far, how hard, how long prepares you to handle the random punches life throws:
A red-eye flight and caregiver duties
A sudden move and a new job
A natural disaster and everything that comes with it
Stacking those hard-earned receipts gives you a baseline to operate from. The more of them you have, the more grounded and capable you become.
Finding your hard starts small. Your limits grow from there. For me, I know I found the edge my endurance finishing a 146-mile bike race with 9k ft of climbing—fighting cramps for the last 75 miles. I know I found my intensity limit during a three-day lab testing project, where I gave myself rhabdo but finished the effort. (This was very dangerous, and I own that. I didn’t even tell my wife until it was all over.) But those moments taught me exactly where my limits are—and what it feels like to choose to keep going anyway.
If you engage in challenging yourself repeatedly and stack those efforts over time, you build a new reference point. That tough ask at work? Having to drive 12 hours to support a loved one having an issue? That new job or move across the country? It’s not a 5 a.m. alarm for that event in freezing rain. It’s not finishing the last interval when your legs are on fire. It’s not a solo hike in 90-degree heat, cramping with two miles left to go. You’ve voluntarily done worse. And that recalibration matters. It shifts your perception of difficulty. You now carry evidence—real, earned proof—that you can push through. And that makes you dangerous—in the best way.
It’s NEVER TOO LATE TO START choosing to do the hard things. There are incredible people on IG showing what it looks like to start in their 60s, 70s, even 80s. They’re lifting, hiking, riding, and reclaiming their strength one decision at a time. (I enjoy following
on IG) It’s not about how early you begin. It’s about deciding to begin now or begin again and NOT STOP!I've had a sign in my workout area for years: YOU COME FROM COMFORTABLE PEOPLE…NEVER ALLOW YOURSELF TO BECOME THEM.
My parents taught me how not to live. They ate the standard American diet. They did not choose to move. They were obese before it became such a common thing in the US. I had the parents that couldn't play with me, and other kids made comments about it. They found significance in their medical issues—many of which could have been prevented. They brushed off any suggestion of lifestyle changes but took any pill a doctor suggested. They were opioid addicts.
I asked my dad the year he died "When was the last time you pushed your heart rate up on purpose?" He thought about it and said, “Probably high school.” So over 50 years ago…That was the last time he chose even level of discomfort.
(both of my parents died 20+ years younger than at least one of their parents)
I saw clearly that choosing the easy path created a life of unnecessary suffering. I'm lucky I realized this young—and went the opposite way.
“You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.” – David Goggins
Questions to ask yourself:
When was the last time I was scared of something and leaned into it?
When did I go all out—full sprint, max reps, longest ride, run, walk, ruck, etc?
If someone needed saving—could I carry them, lift it, move it?
Have I done something physically hard in the past week, month, or year?
When did I last commit to something hard and see it through, even when it sucked?
Do I regularly choose challenges or default to comfort?
What proof do I have—recent proof—that I can do hard things?
Hard things. Done anyway. Again. Another receipt. Keep stacking them.