2026-05-25: Suffering Capital
Life is about suffering.
I have told my team, perhaps hundreds of times, that life is about suffering. The point of life is to suffer, to suffer is to be alive, and similar formulations of this same concept. What does this really mean though?
The simplest explanation is that we must work hard in order to earn something. This could of course be money, it could be a promotion (although hard work never guarantees a promotion, only competence), or it could be knowledge, the form of capital which most of us doing knowledge work leverage to earn our keep.
The surest path, and perhaps the only path to knowledge runs through suffering. Why? Because your brain is actually "rewiring" itself; new neurological connections are formed, indeed new connections between different pieces of knowledge, different concepts, different facts (and of course the storage and preservation of new facts) all of which requires effort. The level of effort will vary from person to person, indeed the capacity to form these connections will vary as well.
Perhaps not every day at work will be about this kind of suffering, this kind of challenge. Many of them, however, will. This represents an investment in your employees, and is the means through which they better understand your business, their day-to-day tasks, and is ultimately what allows for growth. It essential for the long-term success of any business to be able to provide these challenges and opportunities, otherwise your best people will leave.
Why did we go to the moon? Because it was hard. Why did we do that? Because if it was easy, everyone would do it (or be doing it). If it was easy, it would not be perceived as valuable by others, and perception is important (although reality is even more important). If we want to be great in life, in business, indeed even in our personal relationships, we will have to suffer for it. And that's a good thing.
This suffering is not, to be clear, a physical kind of suffering. Not in knowledge work anyway (one might imagine that the gravedigger should feel his body ache after a long day). Nor should it be confused with mental anguish, or anxiety, the kind of suffering that arises from dysfunction. Many organizations exist in a dystopian space where people suffer because their ideas are not respected, because their voices are not heard. People will leave this kind of organization, too.
I chose this exact phraseology of "suffering" because it's memorable, and a bit fun. Tongue-in-cheek, ha-ha only serious, as it were. You should have fun at work, and in life. And the things you say to your team should be short and easy to remember. Spouting banal platitudes that have been said before will soon be forgotten after.
Go forth and suffer.