I could be wrong, but I think you might be misunderstanding someone's point from above.

They said "you need to work on this, or else ...", but they didn't use the word "just".

I.e., they weren't implying it would be easy. Just that it wouldn't go away on its own, but that working on it would (in their estimation?) help.

Kinda like when my doctor tells me I need to lose weight or else I'll have problems X Y, and Z. She knows it's not easy.