Is Struggle Always Necessary?
Have you ever heard the saying "struggle leads to success" ? 
There's a lot of talk about how life has to suck before it can get better. But is this a false dichotomy? That's a fancy way of saying, do we have blinders on and just aren't seeing all the options?
I agree working hard can produce results - IF you're aimed in the right direction. But is hard work always a struggle?
Labor of Love
"Labor of love" is often a term ascribed for when you ARE working hard but, you believe in your work, your steps to the big goal, the pay off, and every act that gets you closer is worth celebrating. 
Is THAT a struggle?
Isn't 'struggling' just mental for how we choose to think about actions? 
I mean, physical pain aside, generally, being on the grind, if you always frame it as 'a struggle' wouldn't that make it harder for you than framing it as necessary steps towards becoming that bad ass you know you already are?
We can go deep on this one. 
If you do become successful but are an a$%hole to everyone, and don't have good social skills (Steve Jobs, asperger et al) - is that success? 
  • How We Look at Ourselves
  • The World
  • Our PROCESS 
All of these things...determine how hard life is, and if work is really a struggle or just a system you use to become el jefe. If there's one super power you can opt in to having, without being bit by a radioactive spider (which would make you sick in real life), it's the power of perception. 
The Power of Perception
Being able to look at how we look at things is a strange gift I've had since I was fighting tooth and claw to not become my father, fighting for scraps living on the streets as a teenager.  It's the one thing that led to getting accepted into the University of Texas, working at Facebook, and starting my own businesses. 
It's easy to fall into a habit of if this, then that. 
This is SQL terminology for how results of a search are defined by certain parameters.
 YET... 
IRL this means we tend to start to draw conclusions before actually looking at what's happening. Our eyes are not really seeing. We are going through a series of automated emotional habits. 
However, it's mainly unconscious. And it can have draw backs when you want to innovate your company but are still coloring within the lines and not thinking outside the box. The habit-thinking of expecting the same thing despite there being different variables and inputs limits our growth, professionally and personally.
How Good Becomes Great 
Taking the time to look at your business and ask the hard questions, without sugar coating is how good becomes great. The challenge with thinking bigger is we tend to self-impose mediocrity, and creating artificial ceilings that limit our flight path. These ceilings are due to the habitual way we think about potential. The definition of identity, of a company or a person, if it's habit-based, is going to suffer adapting to a changing world.
Do your self a favor, and begin to cultivate a sense for how you look at things. For how you look at how you look at things. 
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What are habits you have on how you think of yourself or your business?
Are there conclusions you assume about people or situations? 
What is a new way to think about this and rewire your process?
Think, be, explore - it's an adventure.