Getting comfortable being uncomfortable
By Bill Dempsey
January 2, 2020
This time of year is typically quiet in the market with everyone’s attention on the holidays and spending time with family and friends, as it should be !
I have also spent some of this time catching up on reading and listening to some podcasts that have been on my to do list. I found one to be very poignant and built upon a point I made in my last LinkedIn post.
The podcast I listened to was an interview with Morten Hansen, a management professor at the University of California at Berkeley and New York Times best selling author. In it, he references what he calls the “stall point”, a time in a person’s career when we get comfortable and are more or less on auto pilot.
We might have achieved a certain level in our career and may very well be very good at what we do. But how will we know if we could be better and achieve the best possible version of ourselves?
We are complex beings and Hansen states that putting ourselves in an “uncomfortable” situation can stir up all sorts of insecurities and awaken the sleeping monster within. We can create scenarios in our minds that just don’t exist, exacerbating the uneasiness that we are already feeling. Hansen reminds us that most “successful” people have had their share of failures. A major reason for their success has been the mental fortitude that they have developed along the way, enhancing their ability to be “comfortable” being “uncomfortable”
If we are to grow, we must stretch ourselves and sometimes that can be scary. When we undertake expanding ourselves, we have to factor in that set-backs are inevitable. If we do experience a set- back, or something we try does not work, it does not mean we are a failure! It means that we tried something that did not work, period.
How many people spend their entire career quietly wondering what they could have achieved had they only challenged themselves more and stepped outside their comfort zone?
Are you one of those people? Do you still have that fire burning within but reluctant to step outside your comfort zone? There has been much research into this very topic and there are skills that you can learn that can empower you to take that step. I would welcome the opportunity to have a conversation, hear your story, and share with you how I might be able to help. We have 363 days ahead of us in 2020. Make this the year that you not only challenge yourself, but that you achieve unprecedented personal growth!
Happy New Year!