Easier Doesn’t Always Mean Better

The podcast I co-host, “Two Disabled Dudes,” is celebrating a major milestone this week: We recently broadcast our 100th episode! It’s been a wild three years, and neither my co-host, Kyle Bryant, nor I expected to make it this far. We’re honored to have listeners continuing to download our show and humbled that our reach increases every week.

In episode 100, Kyle and I joke a little bit about how things are supposed to get easier with time. Of course, some aspects do get easier, but others don’t. Although we had a meaningful conversation with award-winning artist Jeremy Cowart, it’s the idea of “easier over time” that is sticking with me right now.

I hear a voice in my head on repeat telling me that there is always room for improvement. This voice reminds me that what was acceptable in my life last year may not be acceptable today. For example, the exercise routine I was following last summer isn’t one that I can execute today partially due to my femur injury. I’ve had to make adjustments.

On the flip side, if I follow the same diet or the same gym routine every day for six months, my body will reach a point of plateau and those routines will lose their effectiveness.

At my job, we promote and commit to the goal of “constant improvement.” If you think about it in terms of business, our smartphones or cellphones are great examples. The phones that were cool in 2006 are certainly not as cool, functional, or powerful as cellphones on the market now. With a new version or an upgrade every eight to 12 months, phone companies are continually improving to maximize profits and stay up to speed with consumer desires.

Of course, this principle has seeped into many areas of my life, even beyond exercise or my efforts in business. 

It’s rare that things ever get easier. If they do get easier, it’s not usually because it’s getting better. Instead, it’s just staying the same, or more likely, it’s getting worse. Consider the podcast: Sure, it’s “easier” to start a recording and follow a routine because we are well-versed on our process. However, for us to continue producing appealing content and high-quality recordings, we’ve had to try and retry a lot of different techniques, settings, software, hardware — the list goes on. As I’ve written before, nothing important happens by accident.

If episode 100 sounds anything like episode 1, people would probably be paying us to stop our show!

As much as we all might wish for certain things to be easier, be careful what you wish for. Easier doesn’t always equate to better.

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