Recently I’ve been thinking about why I haven’t been able to achieve some of my goals, and I think it’s because of my comfort zone.
I’ve been analyzing my comfort zone a lot recently. Sometimes I feel like I just need time for self-care, but then something inside me tells me that I’m taking it too easy on myself.
This could be because I’ve been listening to a lot of CT Fletcher recently or it could be something natural in all of us. If you don’t know CT Fletcher he is a weight lifter who constantly talks about the hard work required to achieve results. At some point, if you don’t achieve the results you’ve been looking for, you need to change things up. You can’t achieve those results you desire because you’ve probably been living in a comfort zone for too long. It’s hard to see it though since you most likely live in it day in and day out.
Another thing I heard recently is that as humans we are meant to have resistance in life. We crave it. We always need an obstacle to overcome to achieve personal satisfaction. It’s not self destructive. It’s just part of who we are. This is why there is always war in the world somewhere. Humans need conflict and we need a struggle.
Entrepreneurs overcome crazy odds in order to succeed. Many entrepreneurs succeed even in the midst of personal conflict. They have no capital, no revenue and a personal life to tend to.
Elon Musk has had 3 divorces and he also has children.
Jeff Bezos has gone through divorce and has children.
Donald Trump has had many divorces as well and also has many children.
These are some of the most successful people in the world. They’ve succeeded even while going through personal conflicts. They dealt with their personal conflicts and still achieved professional success. This is because they did not have huge comfort zones like most americans. They got used to the struggle. When every aspect of their lives was chaotic, they still pushed forward. I believe this is because their comfort zones are tiny. They probably spend limited amounts of time just chilling with a beer in their hand. They are either spending time with family or grinding hard at work.
If you want to succeed at something in your life, you have to get out of your comfort zone. You can’t always have “me” time. You need to hustle and work hard. You will even have to do this when there are bad things going on in your life or conflicting priorities.
The worst part about the comfort zone is that it’s often not visible. For example, the other day I saw a lady on the bus with groceries full of junk food like Cheeto’s. She couldn’t wait to get home. I could see the look on her face, and it felt familiar to me. It looked like she knew she was getting away with something.
That’s how most of our comfort zones are. It seems like we are hitting a jackpot and that life can’t be this amazing. Maybe for you it’s going home and binging on Netflix. Maybe it’s just getting home and laying in your bed alone with the air conditioning running full blast. If it feels too good to be true, it probably is. It’s ok to rest when we need it, but you need to stop at the moment it feels like cheating.
You need to get out and struggle. That could mean working on a personal project, creating new relationships, finding constructive hobbies, etc. Don’t let life pass you by without struggle that you’ve constructively created. If you don’t create your own struggles, then life will put struggles into your life that you weren’t expecting. They might show up in the form of addictions, anxiety, negative emotions or destroyed relationships, but I guarantee you they will show up. Living with a small comfort zone is like a muscle. You need to work on having a limited comfort zone.
You don’t need a nerfed up life.
You need to work on making life difficult so that you can succeed in every aspect of it. This means that you don’t need to have luxury everything. Get rid of your luxury car and your luxury furniture if it’s all you experience in your life. Sit in an uncomfortable chair and ride public transportation. That way when life hits hard, you won’t even be phased by it because you’ve learned to push past any struggle. Things that seem like a struggle to most people will just seem like another day to you.
