Expecting growth to happen in the place of ease, where everything feels comfortable, predictable, safe, and familiar, may be like hoping against hope. This is because true growth often comes when you move out of your place of comfort and face challenges head-on. Becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable is a very powerful habit that you need to form if you will achieve success in life. No one will hand you the success and the growth you want, you have to earn it by working, and most times, they are uncomfortable work.
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More often than not, when you get comfortable, you will not see the reason to act again. Of course, when you do not act, then you will not expect to see result. The truth is that you are responsible for what happens to you by how you act. There are things that you may never achieve until you have taken a form of risk. Take the invention of the airplane for example. When the Wright Brothers finished putting together the machine, they needed to test it by flying it. This was just like doing what has never been done before. What if he took the flight and nosedived? He did not look at all these discouraging thoughts, rather he took the risk, moved out of his comfort zone, and did the impossible. This marked a revolution in the world of aviation.
In life, and at each level you get to, you will be required to unleash a version of you that you have not become yet. But to become that version, then you have to be ready and willing to face the situations that stretch you even beyond your limit. I remember when I was in school, the resolution I made to take my studies seriously. Before I entered school, I had some hours I read in a day. But when I entered school, I had to upgrade it because more things were at stake. As I got higher, I also increased my study time. It was not comfortable, but it was required. This was part of what gave me the success I needed. You cannot achieve greatness if you are not willing to push yourself to your limit and even beyond.
You will agree with me that a seed will not grow from the bottle that you kept it in. You may have a bottle filled with potent seeds. Technically, you are having a potential plantation in your hand, yet it will only be possible when the seeds leave the bottle and get planted in the soil. This is true with life. You have potentials for greatness right inside you, but you have a responsibility to put actions first, which may also require you to leave your comfort zone. Do not get too familiar with the ordinary when you can actually get beyond it.
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One of the major reasons why a lot of people have stayed too long in their place of comfort without making significant progress is because they wait to get ready before they act. What they fail to understand is that readiness is often an illusion. You do not build confidence before you take actions, rather you build confidence by taking actions. You will be surprised that the more you expose yourself to uncomfortable situations, the more you realise how well you can handle them. You will even realise that the thing that once felt like "mission impossible" will begin to look like just a normal task. It only takes one step to discover that where you have been was the same thing limiting you all these while.
This does not mean that the discomfort will suddenly become enjoyable overnight, but it means that you have stopped allowing it to control your decisions. This will make you to choose growth with ease. You will also realise that short-term discomforts can actually lead to long-term success. On the other hand chasing after short-term comfort can actually lead to long-term regrets. Whatever happens to you is majorly a function of what you have done. That is, your actions, choices, decisions, the steps you have taken, and even your inaction. So do not settle for where you are, there are infinite possibilities ahead.
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