I Wish You Discomfort As A Sign Of Progress

That sounds unusual, wishing readers discomfort. But it’s the message I deliver to all my clients. I wish you discomfort, and lots of it. Why would I say this? It’s simple. If we are comfortable, we are stagnating. Comfort comes with doing the same thing, in the same way, over and over. You are good at it and know it very well and are therefore comfortable. Another word for this is sleepwalking! This is not to say that being an expert in an area of skill or having a specialty and focusing on it is sleepwalking, not at all. What it is saying is that when we find ourselves comfortable, it is a strong hint that we are not improving, growing, learning more, expanding our skills or learning new skills and thus our days are similar to sleepwalking as everything is on automatic. If you are able to do your job without deep thinking or preparation or consideration, without developing new skills, you may be too comfortable. Developing experience and expertise and successfully deploying your skills does not mean you have pushed yourself out of your comfort zone.

We need to learn new and different skills, new applications. That’s what I am talking about. If we step onto new ground and into unexplored areas by learning new skills, we are likely to become uncomfortable as we have moved from expert to beginner again, with limited experience in the new area. We have lost our comfortable experience cushion, our “know it all” status, and have stepped into the unknown. Hallelujah! This is where we all belong.

The good news is that there are so many ways to become uncomfortable in the work place. There are numerous opportunities to create discomfort and thus, to learn. We can develop management skills even if we are technical or scientific people. In fact, the science of business management, the skill of better utilization of computer technology, the development of better communication skills, the improvement of relationship skills, better organization skills and greater business skills are all areas of learning that any expert in other areas can learn about. You can benefit from them, get better at them, become uncomfortable with them and develop new skills that support your core expertise. To use my business as an example, the service I offer to my clients improves businesses and builds business skills while creating changes that are deep, systemic, long-lasting, and very uncomfortable for an improved end result.

Change is always uncomfortable, and for quite a while as you adjust. Obviously, developing your particular skill further and enhancing your career path is an excellent place to push yourself. Become uncomfortable and increase your skills and capabilities, keep in tune with latest developments in your industry or trade. Then, once comfortable again, start all over and push yourself into new levels of discomfort, getting better and repeating the cycle again and again, always improving, and creating new levels of discomfort. Learning new skills forces you to restart your engines. This is hard work and is less comfortable then the old cushy sofa you are used to lounging on–your well-established and polished skills. It’s never too late to learn. It’s always appropriate to push yourself to a new level of discomfort, a clear indication that you’re stretching your capabilities and getting better all the time.

So, I wish for all of you lots of discomfort. Keep pushing yourself, learn, get better, get comfortable and do it all over again. Everything changes. Markets, products, customer profiles, market preferences, new technology, inflation, depression, economic trends, demography trends, etc. Everything is in flux, so should we be. Keep pushing yourself. Create your own path. Comfortably sleepwalk through life or experience discomfort and improve yourself. Your call.