Let me tell you the sneakiest thing lying between you and bringing your ideas into reality and achieving the level of success you really want.
It is nearing winter here and this week we moved from an apartment complex into a three-bedroom home.
The first morning in our new home as I wandered into the kitchen to make our morning coffees, the goosebumps on my arms and the cold floor beneath my feet told me I’m going to need a dressing gown and slippers.
As I slid into the cool temperatures of my car, parked on the street, something clicked.
We have been living in a temperature-controlled apartment and parking in a temperature-controlled basement for three years. We have become seriously comfortable. We haven’t even needed to regulate body temperature with things like slippers, as the apartment was always an optimal temperature. We haven’t had to get into cold cars where you can see the heat of your own breath in the cool air. And I never even noticed the absence of those uncomfortable things until I had the contrast, followed by flashbacks to memories of increased comfort – eg. parking in the basement, and an urgency to recreate it.
Comfort is seductive. We’re wired for it. The moment we experience discomfort we immediately seek to return to comfort. Immediately. But that’s not even the sneaky part. The sneakiest part is not the seeking of comfort, but the keeping of it.
And that’s exactly what’s in your way right now.
You want to avoid that contrast experience, avoid discomfort and stay comfortable so bad.
And here is where you’ll get super sneaky with yourself. You’ll kid yourself by considering all of the somewhat challenging and uncomfortable situations you do put yourself in. Be careful there. That’s the sneakiest of traps that even the boldest leaders can fall into. You can delude yourself and think you’re really putting yourself out there while you’re really hiding behind the more comfortable or uncomfortable actions you could be taking. I guarantee, no matter what level you’re playing at, no matter how boldly you are putting yourself out there, you’re holding back and hiding from doing the seriously uncomfortable thing. We ALL do it. It is human. And I promise you, that’s what’s in the way. That’s your developmental edge.
Identify that, lean into that, and you will accelerate and amplify your trajectory.
Find it and master it.
Want me to reveal more of your blind spots? Hit reply and type “blindspots”
Amy
