Why Being Uncomfortable is Important

When you dream about greatness, is part of that dream feeling comfortable, sitting on the beach, and sipping a drink? I hate to break it to you, but you don’t become great by getting comfortable. Greatness happens when you get up early and slay dragons. Look at great athletes and public figures—do you think they focus on personal comfort?

What is the difference between being motivated and being uncomfortable? I would say the more motivated you are, the more uncomfortable you are with the status quo. Whenever I have an important goal that inspires me, I feel a lot more uncomfortable, which is motivational. It creates an energy I use to fuel excitement. The line between excitement and feeling uncomfortable blurs when you are happy and focused.

Learning how to enjoy feelings of discomfort can help you become motivated. Keep reading to find out how being uncomfortable can radically change your life.

• Overcoming the Fear of Failure
• Enhancing Personal Growth
• Get Comfortable With Feeling Uncomfortable

Overcoming the Fear of Failure

“Perfect is the enemy of good.”

Voltaire popularized this Italian saying, the origin of which is lost in the sands of time. Nobody wants to fail, and failure can be scary. In the past, failure was a life or death problem. This made it tempting not to try at all. This is a mistake because you miss every shot you don’t take. Getting used to being uncomfortable means losing the fear of failure, and it can be an easy change if you start small. When something doesn’t go as planned, instead of saying you failed, consider saying that you learned something new.

The secret to overcoming the fear of failure is how you start. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People book has helped me and countless others learn how to stay organized, be more productive, and get the most out of life. Once you’re prepared, find something small that doesn’t matter. Give it a try, and fail on purpose. If it doesn’t matter, it’s okay if you fail. As you get comfortable with small failures, let yourself win on some of the small tasks. You’ll quickly discover that getting started is easier when you’ve lost the fear of failure.

Common tasks that scare people include getting in shape, losing weight, graduating from school, and public speaking. But millions of people succeed at these daunting challenges every day. Why not you?

Starting with something small is valuable because it means you’re more likely to get a quick victory. And when you do win, you will be motivated to do more. You’ll have taken the first step of building a winning tradition or a culture of completion.

Enhancing Personal Growth

“An object in motion tends to stay in motion. An object at rest tends to stay at rest.” -The 1st Law of Thermodynamics, by Sir Isacc Newton.

This law of the universe applies to all bodies in nature, including your own. The more comfortable you get, the harder it is to get moving or change direction. Practicing healthy lifestyle habits is easier when you are used to feeling uncomfortable. Getting in shape is necessary if you want to get the most out of life.

How you approach abundance vs scarcity mindsets determines how you face the future.  Focusing on scarcity can zap your motivation. Focus instead on the parts of your life that bring rewards. The more time and energy you invest here, the more opportunities you will be able to find. The abundance mindset can teach you how to live a happy life.

It’s important to balance growth with rest. Knowing what intellectual wellness is can help you intelligently decide how much rest you need and when it’s time to return to work. If you don’t get enough rest, your performance will fall off, so it’s important to find that sweet spot.

I love that feeling of completing something hard that I wasn’t sure I was up to the task for. Victory feels good, and when I win, I get such a rush. And losing isn’t the end of the world. It just tells me where I need to improve. Most of the time, I didn’t lose so much as I got a partial victory. The only way to really fail is not to try.

A partial victory means you’ve made forward progress. A few adjustments and some more work, and those partial victories become total success.

Get Comfortable With Feeling Uncomfortable

Something miserable you have experienced is more comfortable than unfamiliar joys. Consider reframing the unknown and the uncomfortable as a portal to adventure, and the rewards are knowledge and strength. Step out of your comfort zone and see what’s out there. Bet on yourself and take a chance. You might like it.

When you’ve worn yourself out with a long day or week of productive work, it’s necessary to take a break. You should get comfortable and relax. Taking these kinds of breaks actually makes you more productive in the long run. Professionals who never take a break find their productivity dropping off. Their mood gets bad, and their sleep quality goes down. I schedule my breaks right before important events on my schedule.

It’s like going to the gym. My muscles get sore after a good workout, and this means I need to take the occasional rest day so my body can get a chance to rebuild. But if I stay away from the gym for too long, then I lose that feeling of soreness. I don’t feel right unless I’m at least a little bit sore. Not being sore means I am missing out on gains. I like the way I look, and I take pride in the effort I go to to look this way.

The more victories you get in life, the more you will look forward to your next challenge, and the more you will enjoy feeling uncomfortable. I recommend you find something small that makes you feel uncomfortable. Face it head-on right now. Make sure it’s something you know you can accomplish, and knock it out of the park. Take note of how that makes you feel, and then do it again. Do this once a day for the next thirty days and see how much more you can accomplish.