Choose the Right Struggles
Technology Should Think Faster, Not Think for Us
“A meaningful life isn’t built by eliminating struggle. It’s built by choosing the right struggles.”
Every generation has tried to make life a little easier. We build better tools, better technology, and better systems. That’s progress, and there’s nothing wrong with it.
The problem begins when we stop using technology to make work easier and start using it to avoid growth altogether.
Technology should eliminate repetitive work, not critical thinking. Like any muscle, if you stop using it, it gets weaker. The same is true for judgment, creativity, and problem-solving. The more we rely on technology to make every decision, answer every question, and generate every idea, the less we exercise the very skills that make us valuable.
Imagine an insurance industry where every agent uses the same AI prompts, sends the same emails, creates the same marketing, and gives the same answers using the same software to every client. Eventually, no one stands out because no one is bringing their own experience, voice, or judgment to the conversation.
When I hear the conversation that AI systems will take over what an insurance agent does, I am more than a little skeptical. Unless we no longer are having those one-on-one conversations with clients, finding those personal pain points and truly being that trusted advisor, there will always be a need for human judgement.
Tech platforms and AI comparison systems are a tool for us to use. Not to replace us.Â
The competitive advantage won’t belong to the people who use AI the most. It will belong to the people who still know how to think while utilizing technology.
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Experience Is Earned, Not Downloaded
Looking back on my career, every meaningful step forward started with trying something I wasn’t good at. Being kind, my first videos weren’t great. Some marketing campaigns missed the mark. Public speaking, that didn’t come naturally. There were plenty of ideas that never worked the way I hoped they would.
Thomas Edison understood that reality better than most.
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”Â
– Thomas Edison
Failure isn’t the opposite of success. It’s part of the process. Every mistake teaches you something that success never could. Experience isn’t something you buy or learn from watching a bunch of social media videos. You earn it by trying, adjusting, failing, and getting back up to try again.
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The Lessons That Last a Lifetime
One of the best examples of this started in my childhood.
We’ve all heard that studies suggest that kids who participate in organized sports often develop greater resilience, confidence, emotional control, and perseverance later in life. I’ve had coaches tearing into me since I was five years old, with the best intentions. They pushed me to be better, more focused and disciplined.
Sports don’t guarantee success, but they do teach lessons that are hard to learn anywhere else. You lose games, strike out, miss the winning shot, or get cut from a team. Then you’re expected to come back the next day, work harder, and improve.
Real confidence doesn’t come from avoiding difficult things. It comes from proving to yourself that you can work through them.
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Why We Choose Hard Things
A few weeks ago, I crossed the finish line of a Spartan Race. Somewhere between climbing walls, crawling through mud, carrying heavy sandbags, and wondering whose idea this was in the first place, I realized something. Nobody signs up for a Spartan because it’s easy. They sign up because overcoming difficult obstacles changes them. The finish line feels rewarding precisely because of everything it took to get there.
Business works the same way.
The projects that challenge you the most, the conversations you don’t want to have, the risks that make you uncomfortable, and even the failures you’d rather forget are often the experiences that shape you into someone more capable than you were before.Â
In a world obsessed with making everything easier, maybe what we’re really searching for isn’t comfort at all. Maybe we’re searching for something worth doing the hard way.
Bob Brzyski
Vice President of Marketing