The Vikings were fierce pirates and warriors who terrorized Europe from the late 700’s to about A.D. 1100. Brutal and fearsome they looted and burned parts of England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, and Spain. Other Europeans were so frightened of the Vikings that a special prayer for protection was offered in the churches: “God, deliver us from the fury of the Northmen.”

Most historians attribute the Vikings devastating effectiveness to their warships, which were swift and light and could be easily dragged ashore. This allowed them to strike suddenly and then quickly retreat to the safety of the sea. However, my wise father has identified another contributing factor—one that holds incredible significance for all of us: The Vikings rowed themselves to battle.

Unlike the Romans, who used galley slaves to row their great warships, the Vikings took full responsibility for this strenuous activity. This tells us two things: 1) the Vikings didn’t feel that rowing was beneath them—they pursued competence in every area pertaining to their success, and 2) they were seriously ripped. – Taken from the book Do Hard Things

We did a study with the high school boys last year, and it contains some principles that apply to all of us.  The story above explains the first one:

1. Life can will bring us difficulties and we grow stronger as we work through them rather than look for a way out of them.  We all can recall times in which our backs were against the wall, we had to put up, deal with the issue, man up, buck up, etc.  After we emerged from the battle (with our giants) victorious (although possibly bruised and bloodied) we felt better for having faced the difficulty, and dealing with it.  Unfortunately, many of us put off facing the giants (financial, health, weight, fears, phobia’s, family) because we fear losing the fight.  Well, guess what, by avoiding facing the giant, we have already lost.  We know it inside, and our outside reflects the fact that we are afraid to face the truth, it messes with our confidence, our energy, our attitude, our achievement.  Victory over ANYTHING requires facing the truth, and fighting for what you want and believe in.
2. You cannot really succeed unless you are willing to risk failing.  Did you know Henry Fords first car company failed, Bill Gates first company (Traf-O-Date) failed, Michael Jordan was cut from his tenth grade high school varsity basketball team, Steve Jobs was fired from Apple (the company he started) in 1985.  What do all of these folks have in common?  1) Failure pushed them to work harder and smarter, 2)  they used their failures as a step ladder to their future success,  3) they were willing to risk failing again, because failure is not permanent, just a life lesson, a temporary setback that provides us the wisdom (gained from failure) to ultimately succeed.  But, failure can only benefit us IF we learn from her, she is a teacher, but we must be wise enough to learn from her as a student learns from a teacher.
3. Many times, the hard things are small tasks we do everyday.  Does it sometimes seem that doing the mundane daily tasks that makeup our lives are more difficult than the big ones?  What I mean is being consistent in the quality, and consistency of these everyday tasks.  These are the things that no one praises us for, yet they build (or reveal) character in our lives.  Things like making up our beds, doing the dishes, handling our money wisely, keeping up the lawn, regular quiet time.  They build life skills such as self discipline, honesty, consistency, thoughtfulness.  Although they may seem like small insignificant tasks, learning to do them well & consistently can lead to big payoffs because they help make us better, stronger, and equip us with life skills to succeed.

This proverb from Solomon says it well:

One day I walked by the field of an lazybones, and then passed his vineyard;
They were overgrown with weeds, thick with thistles, all the fences broken down.
I took a long look and pondered what I saw; the fields preached me a sermon and I listened:
“A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next?
Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, with poverty as your permanent houseguest!”
Proverbs 24:30-34

Dave