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Easy is one of the most subjective words in the English language, in my experience. It’s used ubiquitously by people who mean well but aren’t realizing one crucial thing: what is easy for one person may not be easy for another.
Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
— Albert Einstein
I can distinctly remember sitting in class, back in elementary school. “We’re going to do a quick, easy sheet on this week’s words before recess.” I’ve always loved learning new words, but that sentence made me almost cry. Why? Because I’m dyslexic.
For me, that “quick, easy sheet” would be anything but. As I expected, when recess came I was not done, and the teacher had me stay in to redo it, since many of my letters were backwards. Also as expected, other kids made fun of me for not being able to do something so “easy”.
Fast forward to high school. I had a friend who dealt with a lot of verbal abuse at home. That friend would visibly flinch when a teacher claimed something in their subject was easy. Of course, the teacher had no way of knowing that when my friend went home there would be a barrage of insults for being “a f***ing moron”, not being able to do “easy” things.
People mean well when they call something easy, but it can undermine the confidence of anyone who doesn’t agree.
Now, as a Virtual Assistant and Designer, I still hear people talk about how “easy” things are or are not. I have conversations with clients where I hear things like, “you make it look so easy,” or “I feel so stupid. I know it’s easy, but I just don’t get it!”
Allow me to repeat myself:
There is no such thing as easy.
Please stop telling yourself that story. Maybe I do make social media look easy. Maybe conversion funnels are easy to the guru whose blog you follow. However, you are not anyone else. There are things you can do that are easy for you, but not for me, or that guru, or any other number of people.
I work mostly with women entrepreneurs in coaching, and what they do boggles my mind. It’s so easy for them, but I would struggle. It’s not a matter of easy or difficult, but the way each of us is unique; how our brains are wired.
Here’s the thing
When clients say I make something look easy, I remind them that easy is relative. If it was truly easy for everyone, I wouldn’t have work. I remind them that what they do easily isn’t something I could do.
The next time you’re in a position to teach something, try not to use the word easy. When you explain what you do to others, avoid telling them it’s easy. Don’t tell a child something is easy, because if they struggle, they’ll think something is wrong with them.
There isn’t anything wrong, and there is no such thing as easy. There are only things we have already learned, and things we have not.
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Great post T. Thank you for all your support and for creating an environment of learning for me and all your clients!! xxoo R
Thanks, Rick! ❤️