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A widely circulated personal development essay lays out 20 difficult choices its author says lead to a happier life, from taking small daily risks to letting go of past failures. The piece is opinion-based self-help guidance, not research, and its claims are the author’s rather than scientifically established conclusions.
A personal development essay listing 20 difficult life choices its author links to lasting happiness is drawing renewed attention online, reviving a longstanding argument in self-help writing: that fulfillment comes not from comfort but from deliberately doing what is hard. The piece, which circulates under variations of the title “What Difficult Choices Help You Live a Happy Life? 20 Ideas,” advises readers to take small risks daily, stop seeking approval, and abandon excuses — positions the author presents as personal philosophy rather than clinically tested guidance.
The essay’s core claim is stated bluntly in its opening: “You have to do hard things to be happy in life.” The author argues that the actions people most often avoid — the frightening ones, the ones no one else can do for them — are what separate “existing and living.” The piece acknowledges its own difficulty, noting that hard actions “are often the easiest things to avoid” through procrastination and excuses.
Among the 20 recommendations, several recur as the essay’s central themes. Readers are urged to take small chances every day, with the author warning that “if you never take any chances, someone else will steer your decision-making and build your life for you.” Other items include not worrying about others’ opinions, stopping comparisons with other people’s journeys (“Plan to outdo your past self, not other people”), and investing daily in one’s own education, health, and happiness.
Later entries shift toward resilience. The author advises readers to “fail forward,” arguing that people “who act the happiest are often the ones who have overcome the most,” and to let go of past frustrations: “One bad chapter doesn’t mean it’s the end.” The essay also pushes accountability — “NO shortcuts. NO quick fixes. NO blaming others” — and closes its visible portion with an appeal to persistence: “When things are tough, you must be tougher.”
Why This Advice Resonates Now
The essay’s renewed circulation reflects a persistent appetite for guidance that frames happiness as the product of effortful choices rather than circumstances. Its argument that ordinary people can achieve progress by acting despite fear speaks to readers facing career uncertainty, comparison-driven social media fatigue, and the temptation of easy shortcuts. The advice to stop measuring oneself against others has become a recurring theme in contemporary wellness discussions.
At the same time, the piece matters because it illustrates the genre’s limits. Its claims are delivered with strong certainty — including promises such as “I guarantee you will be blown away” — but the essay cites no studies, cites no clinicians, and offers no evidence beyond the author’s conviction. Readers treating it as a roadmap rather than one writer’s perspective should note that happiness research is more mixed than the essay’s confident tone suggests, and outcomes vary by individual circumstance, mental health, and resources.
The Self-Help Tradition Behind the List
The essay belongs to a long tradition of motivational writing that pairs numbered lists with a central thesis about effort and reward. Its structure — a punchy philosophical opening followed by digestible action items — mirrors classic self-help formats, and it explicitly recommends James Altucher’s book “Choose Yourself!” within one of its points about daily self-investment.
Several of its ideas echo widely repeated themes in the genre: resilience through failure, the dangers of external validation, and the value of small consistent actions over grand gestures. The phrase “fail forward,” popularized in motivational and business writing, appears as one of the essay’s anchors. What distinguishes the piece is less its individual ideas than its cumulative framing — the insistence that nearly every barrier to happiness is a hard choice being avoided.
“You have to do hard things to be happy in life. The things no one else is doing. The things that frighten you.”
— The essay’s author
Where the Essay Overreaches
The essay’s claims are the author’s opinion, not verified findings. No scientific studies, health authorities, or named experts are cited anywhere in the piece. Its guarantee of results — “I guarantee you will be blown away at just how remarkable you really are” — is a rhetorical promise that cannot be substantiated.
Several recommendations are stated as absolutes (“You have to toughen up,” “Stop feeling sorry for yourself”) that may not apply to readers dealing with grief, depression, or trauma, where such advice can feel dismissive. The source text available also appears truncated mid-sentence around item 12, so the full contents of the remaining items are not confirmed. It remains unclear who the original author is, when the essay was first published, and how widely it has actually circulated beyond anecdotal resurfacing.
How Readers Should Weigh It
Readers interested in the essay’s themes can expect the piece to continue circulating in list and quote form across social platforms, as similar motivational content does. Those seeking evidence-based guidance on well-being may want to consult established frameworks — such as peer-reviewed research on habit formation, resilience, and life satisfaction — or speak with a qualified mental health professional before applying blanket advice to serious personal struggles. The essay itself offers no follow-up mechanism, program, or measurement method; its usefulness, if any, depends entirely on how individual readers translate its 20 suggestions into their own circumstances.
Key Questions
Is this essay based on scientific research?
No. The piece is a work of personal development opinion writing. It cites no studies, experts, or data, and its claims — including a guaranteed payoff for doing hard things — reflect the author’s perspective rather than verified research.
What are the main choices the essay recommends?
Among the visible items: taking small daily chances, ignoring others’ judgments, not comparing yourself to others, investing in your own growth each day, following through on commitments, delivering results without excuses, learning from failure, letting go of past frustrations, and persisting through hardship.
Does the essay list all 20 ideas in full?
The available source text appears to cut off mid-sentence around item 12, which discusses fighting for what you believe in. The complete contents of items 13 through 20 are not confirmed from the material available.
Is this advice suitable for someone struggling mentally?
Not necessarily. Directives like “stop feeling sorry for yourself” and “toughen up” may be unhelpful for people experiencing depression, grief, or trauma. Anyone facing serious emotional difficulties should consult a qualified mental health professional rather than rely on motivational essays.
Who wrote the essay?
The author is not clearly identified in the circulating source material. The piece reads as an anonymous or syndicated motivational essay, a format commonly republished across self-development websites and social media.
Source: rss
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