On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

A longtime fan of bestselling authors and coaches Marc and Angel Chernoff, I look forward to receiving their daily emails. Here’s some excellent advice for these challenging times:

You need to do hard things to be happy in life. Because the hard things ultimately build you up and change your life.

And, strengthening the mind is the hardest thing you need to do for yourself…

Think about the most common difficulties we as human beings deal with in our lives—from lack of presence to lack of exercise to unhealthy diets to procrastination, and so forth. In most cases, difficulties like these are not caused not by a physical ailment, but by a weakness of the mind.

Just like every muscle in the body, the mind needs to be exercised to gain strength. It needs to be worked consistently to grow and develop over time. If you haven’t pushed yourself in hundreds of little ways over time, of course you’ll crumble on the one day that things get really challenging.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. You have a choice today…

1. You can choose to be present when it would be easier to pick up your phone.

2. You can choose to do a workout when it would be more comfortable to sit around.

3. You can choose to create something special when it would be quicker to consume something mediocre.

4. You can choose to invest in yourself when it would take less effort to procrastinate.

You can prove to yourself that you have the guts to get in the ring and wrestle with life.

Mental strength is built through lots of small, daily victories. It’s the individual choices we make day-to-day that build our “mental strength” muscles. We all want this kind of strength, but we can’t wish our way to it. If you want it, you have to create positive daily rituals—mind-strengthening rituals—in your life that reinforce what you desire.

Note: I highly recommend subscribing to Marc & Angel’s website.