Digital books: They are a fantastic convenience. I can finish a book in half the time it would take me to finish a physical book. Having said that, it took me a very long time to convert. The reason being: I love the feeling of accomplishment when I finish a long book. Looking at all those pages I turned one by one to finally complete it. The pages are a nice measure of progress through the book, especially during the boring parts.

The point is: There is satisfaction in "The Grind" Learn to embrace the grind. Understand that it is there, and it is not going away. Everyday is a grind, and that grind offers you something in return. There are fantastic rewards to reap from the grind. But you don't want that grind, do you? You want to be comfortable. Comfort is fine, but it's reward comes quick, leaves quick and leaves you feeling unfulfilled and unsatisfied. Grinding rewards are slow and hard to come by, but its rewards last long and are satisfying.

People don't care about you and your grind. They care about the results. Also, people don't care about your two week results, they care about your 2 year result. The important parts aren't day 1 and day 730. They are 2-729. Those are they days you put your head down, shut your mouth and grind.

You haven't put in the grind (or you're in the middle of it), so don't get butthurt when your world (your wife, kids, boss, strangers) take no notice of you, or give you little to no respect. You haven't earned it yet. And when you have, you won't have to announce it. They will tell you.

I play an instrument very well and have been in many bands. When I would finish shows, many times I would have people come up to me and say "Teach me how to play like that". I am passionate about my instrument and I would start to discuss the basic things they should start with (very boring drills). Once they've mastered that, add something slightly more complex. Their eyes would glaze over and I learned very quickly they didn’t care about the instrument. They just wanted the end result of playing on stage and jamming out like a rock star. They see the end result of many years of grinding, boring (it wasn't boring to me) practice. They are not willing to do that, which is why they will never achieve what they see.

What do you want to achieve? Find successful people who've achieved it, but don't look at their success. Find out what they had to grind through to achieve that success and do likewise. Avoid looking at them as a measure of your progress. Measure your progress by how consistent you can be.

The only easy day is yesterday.

tl;dr Success in anything (marriage, sports, health, career etc.) requires a grind. If you don't accept it and embrace it, you will continue to be unfulfilled and mediocre.