Back in 2016, I interned at a startup non-profit organization. I remember my first day there as if it was yesterday. The first assignment the Executive Director gave me was following up with college students that put their info on the signup sheet during his most recent internship fair. The same internship fair where I met him. It was pretty straightforward. I called each student while following a script, and scheduled them to come in for an interview.

As each week went by, a little more work would be added. I would be doing everything from data entry, to email marketing, making outreach calls to businesses, social media management, and going to networking events.

Pretty soon I took over the whole intern recruitment operation. I attended internship fairs in many different colleges and universities in New York City, sometimes universities out of state. I followed up with the students and conducted interviews. And held short "boot camp sessions" to get the new interns up to speed.

Eventually it got to the point where I worked seven days a week. Oh, did I mention this was an unpaid internship too?

Yep.

Two years of working to the bone for no pay.

But!

I'm not trying to make this sound like a rant article. I'm actually grateful I had the opportunity to work in the organization. Most of the professional skills I possess were learned from this internship. But there was one indirect benefit I got from all this, and that was developing an increased mental capacity.

Here's what I mean by that.

There were many times where I had a ton of work on my plate that I had to work from home. So many times where my stress level went through the roof. But in a way, that helped push my stress limits. Now the problems I'd face that would normally stress me out seem insignificant.

That's why I believe everyone should go through at least one stress-to-the-max experience. Once you go through it, whether it's in life or business, things will feel a little bit easier, especially in business.