Call it whatever you want — fear, self-doubt, resistance, or the lizard brain — human beings are hardwired to avoid discomfort at all costs.
That’s a good feature to have when you’re in real danger. If you’re walking through the forest and you spot a bear — by all means, run for your life (or stand still).
But it’s a destructive feature when it prevents you from doing the things you know you need to do just because it might be uncomfortable.
Speaking in front of hundreds of people at that conference, trying to win that deal you have no business competing for, recording that video for your website — these are all great ways to trigger your deepest and darkest fears.
But your fear is irrational. After the speech, once you’ve won the deal, and when the video goes live — the outcome was clearly worth the temporary discomfort.
Need some help getting comfortable with discomfort?
If you don’t have that much ambition, if you don’t really have big goals, if you don’t really want to make that big of an impact in the world — there’s no courage required, there’s no need to be in the discomfort zone.” — Michael Hyatt
Setting up camp in the discomfort zone is where real growth happens — in your personal life and in your business. The more you confront discomfort, the faster you’ll grow.
How do you do that? In this episode of Michael Hyatt’s podcast, he breaks down 7 steps to getting comfortable with discomfort.
- Acknowledge the value. Think about all the times you were pushed out of your comfort zone and forced to do things you found very difficult. Now think about everything you learned from those experiences. If you’re not convinced there’s value there, you won’t find the courage to do it again.
- Lean into the experience. You need to have a predisposition towards embracing challenges. If something scares you and you’re not sure whether you should pursue it — that’s usually a good sign that you’re on the right track.
- Notice your fear. The first step to overcoming your fear is to observe it. Pay attention to when it comes up, how it presents itself, and how it makes you feel — then let it pass. Just because you’re afraid, doesn’t mean you should stop.
- Don’t overthink it. Human beings are very good at rationalizing things to suit our purpose. If you think too hard and over analyze, you’re likely to find convincing arguments to stay in your comfort zone and never come out.
- Play full out. When you embrace a challenge, don’t just dip your foot in the water to see how it feels. Dive in head first and experience it to the fullest. You’re going to be uncomfortable anyways — might as well make the most of it.
- Celebrate the victory. It’s important to step back, acknowledge what you did, and reward yourself for doing it. Keep that front of mind next time the fear creeps up on you and tries to talk you out of the next scary thing.
- Pause to reflect. If you move from one uncomfortable experience to another, you’ll exhaust yourself pretty quickly. Take some time to reflect on the experience and what you learned from it.
Check out the entire episode here…
Setting Up Camp in the Discomfort Zone: 7 Strategies for Making the Most of Challenging Situations
P.S. To all the Canucks, hope you’ve taken the opportunity to find a little bit of comfort this Victoria Day. Here’s the view from my “office” today…
