Hard work pays off. The greater your capacity for hard work, the greater your reward will be. Being healthy is hard work. Temptations are all around us to eat fast-food, indulge in high fat sweets, and vegetate in front of the TV, computer or iPad. Finding and maintaining a successful relationship is hard work. Healthy relationships require sacrifice, dedication and compromise.

Raising kids is hard work. Nothing in the entire world is going to test your patience, your limits, your tolerance, and just push the absolute envelope of your mental health more than raising children. Getting organized is hard work. Setting goals, making plans to achieve them, and staying on track is hard work. Even being truly happy is hard work.

Acceptance is a key ingredient to hard work. We must accept that there are areas of our lives that just can’t be surrendered to anything less than hard work. You may have had difficult relationships that just weren’t fulfilling. Maybe the only way to a rewarding relationship is to do what you have recklessly avoided; to work harder by giving more of yourself. Perhaps you want to lose weight. Maybe it’s time to accept that the path to your goal requires disciplined diet and exercise (both are hard work). Perhaps you want to eliminate your debt. Maybe you should accept that the only way it will happen is with a lot of hard work and personal sacrifice.

Your life will reach a whole new level when you stop avoiding and fearing hard work and simply surrender to it. It’s a powerful tool to have on your side.