Every success that I have ever achieved in my life, has come from some form of discomfort, pain, failure, or challenge. One of my favorite quotes that I live by is from, Sivaprakash Sidhu,
Everything you want is on the other side of your comfort zone and the other side is fear
Also, another one of my favorites is from Ross Perro,
Success is on the razor’s edge of failure
Discomfort is something that we are all faced with everyday. The decision of whether to exercise or just push it off until tomorrow. The decision to make that tough phone call or have that difficult conversation ripe with conflict and confrontation. The decision to stop that habit, that vice that we know deep down inside is taking us slowly farther and farther away from our goal, from who we truly are.
You see, I’m sure you resonated with one or all of the examples I just mentioned above. The reason is because, as humans, we are all wired to seek safety, comfort, stability and once we have it, our fight or flight reptilian brain shuts off and leaves us to enjoy our life filled with pleasure, fun and laziness.
Although, from the outside it may look all happy and full of rainbows, nothing could be further from the truth.
There’s only so much comfort, food and pleasure you can enjoy until you become numb to it and start to ask yourself those existential questions of:
Why am I here?
Is this all there is?
Am I living my purpose?
Am I making an impact in someones else’s life?
It is this intersection in life, where you are met with two significant decisions: do I continue down this path of this continuous cycle of pleasure seeking, gluttony, over indulging in your favorite unhealthy foods, watching too much Netflix, porn addiction, masturbation, meaningless sex, etc.
Take this morning, for example, I did not want to get up, because I was so tired from my baby boy waking up every 5 minutes about 10 times in the middle of the night, disrupting my deep REM sleep. On top of that, my body was sore from my previous day’s workout. Oh man, trust me, I wanted to go back to sleep. But I got up, and fed my son his breakfast, put him in his play pen, had my cup of coffee and banged out a quick workout.
Another example, was me working on my vertical jump. It was freezing cold outside at 20 degrees and snow was beginning to fall. I could have easily told myself, to just wait for tomorrow when it’s nicer but I sucked it up and went out to the field with my hurdles and worked out for 3 hours in the cold.
Interesting thing that happened was while driving in my car to the field, I felt myself getting warm and cozy. But because of my habit seeking discomfort and my intense desire to workout, I wanted to get out of the car and back into the cold to start my workout as fast as possible. I did not want to remain comfortable, because I know how enticing and entrapping that can be.
It’s kind of like Mel Robbins’ 5 second rule in her book: The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage
From her research, Mel found that you typically have 5 seconds until you decide to act or not act on something.
During her depression of risking and losing her children’s college savings fund for her husband’s “potential” success of the expansion of his restaurants, to then filing for bankruptcy, buried in debt, having debt collectors call her house, and not wanting to get out of bed, Mel had this epiphany one day watching the launch of a rocket.
She thought to herself, “rockets always have a countdown and use all their force to get off the ground and out of Earth’s orbit. What if I did the same thing in my life?”
And so the 5 second rule was born. Mel would count 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 in her head and get out of bed like a rocket and take on her day like the warrior she is.
Guess what?
She’s grown her children’s savings fund much more than before, climbed out of debt, grew a successful business of her own, and has never been happier.
In fact, I’ve implemented this into my life and I have to say it’s been a game changer. I use it getting out of bed, cold showers, working out to get that extra 2-3 reps, when I’m playing ball, working on my business, hesitant to make an important phone call, etc.
Seeking discomfort is about controlled chaos. Controlled chaos is when you create a difficult challenge, environment, or situation for yourself where it’s super hard to complete a task but you push through and do it anyway. Seeking discomfort, is also about seeing reality for what it is, embracing the pain of the moment and getting through your ordeal no matter what.
Right now, you may be thinking to yourself that I like or am obsessed with discomfort.
Honestly, I’m not and hate discomfort as much as the next guy. But I am obsessed with beating my my mind, growing everyday, results and achieving my wildest dreams.
If that’s what you call obsessed, then yes I am obsessed. But as Tim Grover says in his book Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable
you have to become obsessed to achieve greatness.
So, make it a daily habit to seek discomfort.
You will find that over time, discipline will take over and you will automatically be doing the uncomfortable, important things in your life and not even be able to recognize the new you.
I’ve experienced this myself many times and have seen it happen to many people over and over and over again.
Get out of your comfort zone, face your deepest, darkest fears, and seek discomfort. Everything you want is waiting for you on the other side.
What will you do today to seek discomfort?
Sonam