Easy and Hard

Man.  What I read from James Clear this morning is so what matters to me big time at the moment.
I feel like I have said all this before.  Yet to me the importance of something is often how often it is repeated.  This to me represents the difference between achievers and wishers.
He said, “The bad workouts are the most important ones. It's easy to train when you feel good, but it's crucial to show up when you don't feel like it—even if you do less than you hope.
Going to the gym for 15 minutes might not improve your performance, but it reaffirms your identity. It's not always about what happens during the workout. It's about becoming the type of person who doesn't miss workouts.”
I have been saying and thinking how easy it is when everything aligns, and I totally feel like getting into something.  Yet I very much feel my true character is revealed not so much in the easy times but the hard times.  Basically, following what James is taking about, when I do not feel like it.  Yet I know that doing it is what I have committed to.  Necessary if I am to achieve all I have set myself to achieve.
It sort of ties in with something else I was reading yesterday.  That is, often taking the easy way is taking the hard way.  That is, not going to the gym may be taking the easier way for now, but when the pressure is on and what would have been gained by going to the gym is not available, I am likely to come up short - to not have what I need when I need it.  That is when easy proves to be hard.
For sure some things may not be pleasant right now, but they are worth it.
I heard about a guy that was 30 and looking at committing 5 years of his life to learning the piano.  He sought advice as to if he should.  He was asked “how old will you be in 5 years if you do learn it?”  He said “35.”  Then he was asked “How old will you be in 5 years if you don’t learn it?”  Again he said “35” and in the story asked “how come the same.”
For me it is not the time that matters but what I do with the time.  No matter what I do, time goes by the same.  I ask myself, “will it be full of regret or satisfaction?”