Welcome to One Thing Better. Each week, the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine (that’s me) shares one way to achieve a breakthrough at work — and build a career or company you love.

Today’s edition is sponsored by Salesforce, the best solution to help small businesses scale. Learn more below.

You’re hesitating to do something hard.

Maybe it’s a difficult conversation you’ve been putting off. A risk you’ve been too scared to take. A challenge you keep telling yourself you’ll tackle later.

But later never really comes. And the hard thing just sits there, waiting.

Today, I want to offer you a simple reframe to get you moving. It’s not about pushing through discomfort or toughening up. It’s about asking a better question — one that changes the choice entirely.

But first, let me tell you about a hike I almost didn’t take.

91 degrees and nobody on the trail

As I mentioned in last week’s newsletter: I was just in Boulder, Colorado.

When I’m there, I love to hike Mount Sanitas as much as possible. It’s an incredible cardio workout with a stunning view. But it was blazing hot last week, and I didn’t have time to hike in the mornings. My only option was to go while temperatures were in the 90s.

So for days, I skipped my favorite hike.

Then last Wednesday, in the middle of the afternoon, I thought: Maybe I’ll do it anyway. My family said I was crazy. But off I went.

Absolutely nobody was on the trail. Parking was easy. I started climbing, and yes — it was hot (91 degrees!), and I was breathing heavy. But I got into the flow of it, and I felt great.

When I got to the top, I asked myself: What actually got me out here today?

That’s when I realized the most important thing I’d done.

Weighing the wrong variable

Here’s the mistake most of us make when we hesitate to do something hard: We focus almost entirely on the discomfort.

We think about how tired we’ll be, how awkward it might feel, how uncertain the outcome is. The discomfort feels enormous and immediate and real, while the satisfaction feels distant and abstract.

There’s a psychological explanation for this. It’s called loss aversion, and it’s been confirmed by decades of research. Our brains are programmed to protect against loss more than to seek gain. So when we think about doing something hard, we zoom in on what we stand to lose (our comfort, our ease, our sense of safety!) instead of any potential benefit.

But what if we deliberately reversed that?

Weighing satisfaction against discomfort

The next time you’re hesitating to do something hard, try this:

Ask yourself two questions.

How uncomfortable could this be?
How satisfying could it be?

Now weigh those two things against each other.

Literally ask yourself: What’s more important — the avoidance of discomfort, or the satisfaction of doing it?

This is exactly what I’d done, without really even thinking about it, when I decided to go up that mountain. The discomfort could be great: I’d be sweaty and gross and hot. But was it more important to avoid that discomfort… or was it more important to enjoy the satisfaction of the hike?

I chose the hike. Because when you really sit with both sides of the equation, satisfaction almost always wins.

Where this shows up

As I thought about it more, I realized: The greatest things in life often came from this same equation.

For example, I think about the first couple of times I stood on a stage and gave a keynote talk. I was so uncomfortable. I could have stayed safe and avoided the nerves and the vulnerability by just not doing it at all. But I chose the future satisfaction. And that led to an entirely new dimension of my career.

Now think about all the places this shows up for you:

In your career: The job you’re afraid to apply for because you might not get it. The idea you’re afraid to pitch because it might get shot down.

In your creative life: The project you keep putting off because you’re not sure it’s good enough. The thing you want to make but haven’t started because starting feels hard.

In your relationships: The difficult conversation you’ve been avoiding with a partner. The thing you want, even if it feels risky.

In each case, we often think: “I have a good thing going here, so why take the risk? I can just stay quiet. I can just settle for what I have. That’ll be fine.”

But is it?

When you avoid discomfort, you build a habit of safety and avoidance. And when you pursue satisfaction, you create more pathways for growth. Once I hiked that mountain in 90-degree weather once, I knew I could do it again. It was like the mountain opened up to me. And I hiked every afternoon after that.

When we look back

Here’s a thought I keep coming back to, as I take on challenges in life:

At some point, if we are fortunate enough, we will be old and tired. Many of our life’s choices will already be made. We’ll have fewer opportunities to climb towards the sun, and feel it warming our face.

So I wonder: When we look back, what will we have valued most?

Will we be proud that we avoided discomfort, staying home and playing it safe?

Or will we be proud that we really went for it, using our bodies and minds and time to their fullest, come what may?

The discomfort passes. The satisfaction stays.

So the next time you’re hesitating, don’t just ask how hard it will be. Ask how good it will feel when you’re standing at the top.

That’s how to do one thing better.

Why small businesses love Salesforce

I’ve noticed a pattern among the small business owners I talk to:.

Small business owners often have no idea that Salesforce is for them!

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