I love being comfortable.
Sitting on a beach sipping a cold drink with dewy drops of condensation melting on to my hands. Feeling the breeze of an infinite, turquoise ocean. Digging my feet into the white sand and feeling it slip between my toes. A bright sun's blistering heat is reduced to the perfect temperature by the shade of a palm tree. A place where there are no worries, no deadlines. Everything is just taken care of.
Even though I know this utopia is a mirage, my body wants life to be that way.
But, as I get older, I’ve come to understand a brutal truth...
That place does not exist. It never has, and it never will.
And it does not exist, because comfort is death for us humans… literally.
That which we yearn for, which we think is the end of suffering is actually the beginning of it.
If we do not exercise, if we do not eat healthy, if we do not learn hard things, if we do not regularly do things that our body and mind are begging us not to do, we are a slow tragedy waiting to happen. If we optimize our life for immediate comfort, we are ultimately optimizing our life for death.
The human body and mind were designed to work better and live longer by being pushed outside of our comfort zone over and over. They shrivel when we don’t. Our world becomes smaller when we do not confront our fears.
When things get “cold” and difficult in life, we yearn for comfort like birds are pulled south in the winter.
We think we are creatures of the south—that the correct direction of our life should be to gradually migrate to warmth.
The uncomfortable truth is that we are actually creatures of the north—we thrive in the cold.
The resolution of the paradox of life is to learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable. To welcome challenges like we welcome a friend and teacher. This is the “work.”
We live in a culture that sells comfort for profit. And, we are not honest with ourselves about who we really are. We must never forget that comfort is the wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The Solution: Follow The Annual Reinvention Rule
We live in a world that is changing faster and faster at every level.
This means our skills are getting outdated faster. It means that what got us here may not get us there. It means that opportunities come and go faster.
This is uncomfortable. No matter how successful we are, we cannot rest on your laurels and coast.
So what should we do about it?
I think the solution is to reinvent ourselves first before the world forces us to. To always be ahead of the tsunami.
We can do this by reinventing ourselves once a year. What do this mean? It means asking yourself, "If I had to start over knowing what I know now about myself and the world, how would I do this differently?" in every area of your life:
- Career
- Industry
- Skills
- Relationships
- Style
- Hobbies
- Health
- Everything
So, as to 2018 comes to a close, I invite you to reinvent yourself.
And if one of the things you want to reinvent about yourself is your skillset, I invite you to join the 1,000+ members in my Mental Model Of The Month Club. Every month, we teach you a new, valuable and durable skill that will help you learn faster, make better decisions, and take your career to the next level.