Want Confidence? Get Uncomfortable.
Happy Spring, Mavens! 🌸
It’s a time of fresh starts, new beginnings and growth. Today I’ll share a story of some epic-level growth that happened for me almost a decade ago.
Back in 2014, I did an exercise by Robin Sharma who is a leadership expert and author, and he suggested that at the end of a year to go back, examine your year month by month, and write down everything you did. Robin said you will be amazed at just how much you really did accomplish that year.
So at the end of 2013, just before New Year's eve, I sat down with a journal and my calendar and started to look back on the year. I’m flipping through my iPhone, looking at all the events I had gone to or participated in, my freelance business, everything I had done… and it was… well, it was basically nothing.
Essentially, day after day, I had either gone to a freelance job on-site or worked from home with my usual roster of totally fine clients… been to a few events, hung out with my husband and dog… but that was about it.
No exciting travel. No accomplishment of any remarkable goals. No major learnings or revelations. No growth. Ugg.
No growth = a flatline life
As humans, we are wired for growth. But you have to take action. And I had been playing it really safe and not taking any action that would lead to any kind of real joy in my life. It was actually pretty depressing to see. I couldn’t deny it any longer - I needed to get seriously out of my comfort zone and sink into that feeling of “omg I am so uncomfortable right now.”
It was time.
So what does “get uncomfortable” look like?
Some ideas:
Cold call a dream client or initiate a meeting with your boss
Swap out your glossy bio for an authentic one on your website
Take a class or course you know is going to be ‘hard’
As a challenge, pick one thing off this list (or your own list) and make it your mission to do it.
Act.
Yes, it will be extremely uncomfortable. Which is what you want. You want to feel that uncomfortable, horrible, yucky feeling. Because that is when you know you are moving in a new direction.
The more you do this, the more you will see the benefits and rewards (including confidence, courage and inner strength). I’m now so comfortable with being uncomfortable that I feel more uncomfortable when I’m really comfortable. Because I have seen myself grow so much and become so much more confident by engaging and interacting with discomfort. I wouldn't be writing this today - on my own website - telling my story and hoping to inspire some of you if I didn’t get off my ass and challenge myself on a regular basis.
Is it time that you also decided to interact with discomfort?
Don’t push discomfort away. It will serve you, I promise.
Looking back, nothing has made me grow more - and increased my confidence - than when I’ve consciously decided to put myself in uncomfortable situations (no matter what the goal).
I can tell you, 2014 was a VERY different year for me. I did public speaking training, joined networking groups and even did bootcamp classes (pure torture lol!)
And today? Won’t stop, can’t stop… I’m going to keep being uncomfortable and trying new things - and write about it! - as long as I can.❤️
To your brave success,
Alana
