I read the most incredible quote last week, and it summarized in a nutshell why we sometimes get stuck, feeling like nothing is working.

“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we are not really living.

Growth demands a temporary surrender of security. It may mean a giving up of familiar but limiting patterns, safe but unrewarding work, values no longer believed in, relationships that have lost their meaning.

As Dostoevsky put it, “Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” The real fear should be of the opposite course.” 

Gail Sheehy

I’ve worked with over 74,000 people at this point in the last 12+ years, from beginning business owners to boards of $100 million companies. And if I were to tell you the #1 thing that holds people back from achieving their highest potential & greatest lives, it’s this:  not wanting to give up the short term, temporary feeling of security and comfort.

If you want to know the difference between the successful and those who aren’t, that’s it. When you’ve worked with over 74,000 people you start to see these patterns. 

So many of us can get stuck because we choose comfort and security EVEN if it’s slowly killing and draining us.

If you want the most epic opportunities life can bring you, those BIG dreams, the most important quality to cultivate is being able to OVERCOME the control that the little voice that gets afraid has over you. 

Way too many of us let that little voice and its fears control our decision making. I’ve seen it repeatedly speaking with Truly. If you only focus on getting better at not letting that voice in your head dictate your choices, you’ll be successful.

That little voice too often tells you to stay in your comfort zone, that it’s too risky, just choose the smaller, easier, safer thing you can wrap your head around.

But if you aren’t feeling a bit nauseous, and your comfort zone alarm bells aren’t going off…sorry to say but it’s not a big enough leap.

Cultivate the capacity to be OK with discomfort. 

Every year my capacity for discomfort grows, and as it grows, so do the opportunities that come my way. 

There’s a reason not everyone has the kind of success some of the people you admire have- it’s because not everyone is willing to be uncomfortable all the time. 

I’m constantly uncomfortable. And I’ve noticed this after decades of diving into the discomfort: With time, the discomfort starts to feel thrilling, and it is a sign you’re on the RIGHT track. 

I get excited for my discomfort now because I know my capacity is getting stretched to hold more greatness in my body, soul and heart. 

Bring on the discomfort.