I love this phrase “get comfortable feeling uncomfortable“. I’ve encountered it in several books, lectures, and podcast interviews.
Being uncomfortable applies to everything in life. Whether you’re moving to a new city, learning how to play a musical instrument, learning martial arts, or asking that pretty girl on a date.
You can also interpret the phrase as do things that you do not want to do. Use it as a forcing function. If you don’t want to do something, do it. No questions asked, do the thing that you don’t want to do. You cannot allow your mind to scare you away.
Disclaimer: Use common sense. This post is to help improve your life. Don’t jump off a building, etc.
Most of the time, what you’re scared of never happens or if it does it’s never as bad as you envisioned.
Here are a couple of examples that I’m trying:
- Cold showers: This is an ongoing challenge for me. Warm showers feel so nice. Lots of work to do.
- Wake up at 5am: Waking up early sucks. Instead of thinking about how much it sucks, think about how much more you can get done in those extra two hours (e.g., exercise, read a book, write a book :shrug:).
- Run 1 mile: I hate running. More of a reason to start RUNNING.
- Leadership role in a non-profit: Everyone has limited time. You can always find openings. You can sacrifice things that don’t matter (e.g., TV, Netflix).
- Public speaking: Many people are hesitant (maybe scared) about public speaking. I sure am. More of a reason to do it.
- Volunteer (Soup Kitchen, Mentor a Kid): This is another thing people want to do but never do. A common excuse is “I don’t have time”. Unfortunately, this response is quickly followed up by what did you think about last night’s episode of “The Voice”. 🙁
Watching TV is comfortable. Making a difference and improving your life is not. Good, hard work is uncomfortable.Eating McDonalds is comfortable. Eating healthy and dieting is uncomfortable.
Put yourself in more uncomfortable situations. You’ll learn and grow more as a person.
Here’s a little motivation from Jocko Willink who epitomizes “get comfortable feeling uncomfortable”.
Aftermath. Parallettes make me feel weak, uncoordinated, and inflexible. GOOD. pic.twitter.com/WsfBvOw4DV
— Jocko Willink (@jockowillink) October 1, 2016
Trying something new. Let me know what you tried via email.