This is Gracie (my middle daughter, 2nd row right). I wanted to post a tribute to this kid because of how amazing she is. Amazing human, great student, all heart ... and actually a really friggin' good volleyball player too. She's a junior at San Diego State and an outsider hitter on their A club team. They just won the West Coast Region tournament and won the 'Three-Peat' for Western Conference championships. Hadn't been done in more than a decade. BOOM!!! Hats off to this sweet kid 🔥❤️🏐 #girldad

Here's what nobody talks about when they say 'choose your hard': most of us aren't consciously choosing at all. We're just reacting. We default to the hard that's familiar. The hard that feels safe because we've already proven we can survive it. Being overwhelmed is hard. Saying no is hard. But staying overwhelmed and saying yes to everything? That's our comfortable hard. That's the one we've already mastered. I spent years choosing the hard of constant hustle. Always busy. Always creating. Always 'optimizing.' That hard became my identity because it was easier than facing the hard of stillness. The hard of asking for help. The hard of admitting I was burning out. Both paths were hard. But only one of them was mine. The thing about choosing your hard is this: it has to be an active decision, not just a reaction to what feels least terrifying in the moment. The gym is hard. Sitting on the couch is hard too - but it's the hard of slowly becoming someone you don't recognize. The hard of building something is exhausting. The hard of staying stuck feels easier in the short term until suddenly years have passed and you're still there. What I've learned is that the hard you choose becomes the story you tell yourself about who you are. Every day you choose the hard of showing up when it's inconvenient, you're writing a new narrative. One that says 'I'm someone who does hard things even when I don't feel like it.' That's the identity shift that actually matters. So here's the question worth sitting with: what hard have you been pretending is too difficult, when really it's just unfamiliar? What's the hard you're choosing because it's safe, and what's the hard that would actually build the person you want to become? They're both hard. Might as well choose the one that leads somewhere. Would love to know which hard you might be choosing today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4KsEUiw3gA

AI tool builders and software developers, and generally speaking, all global citizens, should be paying to attention to this fight right now. There's a LOT at stake in this battle. Stay tuned.