Stop Choosing Comfort Consistently

Think back to a time when you grew the most in your career. A moment of meaningful progress.

Chances are, it didn’t happen in comfort. It happened because someone created tension, asked a hard question, posed an uncomfortable truth, or you took on a challenge you weren’t sure you could handle, and you responded.

Matt Chandler once said, “Comfort is the god of our generation.” It’s tough to hear, because if we’re honest, most of us define our lives by how comfortable we are. And it makes sense, there is undoubtedly a time and place for being comfortable. If the thermostat is above 73 at night, I struggle to sleep, so I know there’s a place for comfort.

But if progress is your goal, comfort becomes the enemy. Growth and improved performance are born in repeated tension, not ease.

Here’s the trick: most people are willing to get uncomfortable if they know the discomfort has an end date. You’ll hold a wall sit if you know it won’t last forever. You’ll work nights and weekends to finish a big project if you know the deadline is coming.

Later this month, I have an excellent opportunity to deliver my new keynote, The Teamwork Advantage, to 150 leaders in a company. It’s a brand-new talk, and it will be uncomfortable. But growth, glory, and possibly even pain are on the other side.

What I’ve figured out, and what I hope you do as well, is this: growth occurs when you embrace discomfort not just for a few minutes, but when you make a habit out of it. When you build your lifestyle to include many moments of discomfort stacked on top of each other.

You may not always love the immediate outcome or how it feels in the moment, but you can find comfort in knowing this: comfort is not your god.

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