That sounds unusual, wishing the readers of this blog this message I deliver to all my clients. I wish you discomfort, and lots of it.  Why would I say this? It’s simple. If we are comfortable, we are stagnating. Comfort comes with doing the same thing in the same way, over and over, so you are good at it, and know it very well, and are therefore comfortable. Another word for this is sleepwalking! This does not mean that being an expert in an area of skill or specialty and focusing on it is like sleepwalking, not at all. 

What it is saying is that when we find ourselves comfortable it is a strong hint that we are not improving, growing, learning more, expanding our skills, learning new skills and are thus our days are similar to sleepwalking as it is automatic.

If you are able to do your job without deep thinking or preparation or consideration, without new skills you may be very comfortably sleepwalking. Developing experience and expertise and successfully deploying our skills does not mean we have pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone.

We need to learn new and different skills, new applications.  That’s what I am talking about. If we step onto new ground, untried areas, learning new additional skills, we are likely to become uncomfortable as we have moved from expert to beginner and with limited experience in the new area.  We have lost our comfortable experience cushion, our “know it all” attitude, and have stepped into the unknown…Hallelujah! This is where we all belong.

The good news is that there are so many ways to become uncomfortable in the work place. There are few limits to the opportunity to create discomfort and thus to learn. We can develop management skills even if we are technical or scientific people. In fact, the science of business management, the skill of better utilization of computer technology, the development of better communication skills, the improvement of relationship skills, better organization skills and greater business skills are all areas of learning that every expert in other areas can learn about.  They can benefit from, get better at, become uncomfortable with and develop new skills supporting your core expertise.In fact, if we are to focus on the purpose of my business and what I am delivering to all my clients, based on improving businesses based on acquiring new skills and creating changes that are deep, systemic and long lasting, and very uncomfortable. 

Change is always uncomfortable, for quite a while, as you learn and change. Obviously, developing your particular skill further and enhancing your career path is an excellent place to push yourself.  Become uncomfortable and increase your skills and capabilities, keep in tune with latest developments in your industry or trade. Then, once comfortable again, you start all over and push yourself into new levels of discomfort and learn again how to do it,  gaining comfort, getting better and repeating the cycle again and again always improving, and creating new levels of discomfort as learning new skills forces you to restart your engines, work hard and learn. This is hard work and is less comfortable then the old cushy sofa you are used to lounging on, your well established, polished skills. It’s s never too late to learn.  It’s always appropriate to push yourself to a new level of discomfort, a clear indication that you’re stretching your capabilities and getting better as you learn new skills.

So, I wish for all of you lots of discomfort. Keep pushing yourself, learn, get better, get comfortable and do it all over again.Everything changes.  Markets, products, customer profiles, market preferences, new technology, inflation, depression, economic trends, demography trends, etc.  Everything is in flux, so should we be.

I  wish you all much discomfort.  Keep pushing yourself.  Learn, get better, get comfortable, get uncomfortable, but it’s you who has to create your own path. It’s your choice. Comfort or discomfort.  Your call.