(Cowboys say this because sometimes they squat down to pet their little dawgies on their heads and forget they’re wearing their spurs.)
But if you learn to squat with your spurs on, eventually you’ll develop calluses and hardly feel them. Right?
So what does that mean? Well, what I mean it to mean is that if you are never willing to assume any uncomfortable positions, you’ll keep getting the same view of everything.
And the same information… or disinformation. If you never change your view of anything, everything will remain the same for you. So the path to change means assuming a different perspective that sometimes requires discomfort. Fallacious reasoning? Let’s look.
Most of us naturally resist putting ourselves in new situations we perceive as psychologically uncomfortable and wonder why we never seem to get anything different or what we want. Consequently, we stay at our same level of competence (or incompetence). Most of us want something different than what we have, but to have it, we have to do something different than we’ve done. In other words, if you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.
Changing your job, career or life style means changing how you’ve done some things in the past. And because change is usually always accompanied by discomfort, we need to practice stressing the necessary muscle in small ways so it can become stronger and support movement. In the literal and impractical case of your spurs, the muscle is your gluteus maximus. But in the figurative and practical life sense, it’s your discomfort zone.
Do one thing different today that stresses your discomfort zone muscle. Build up small so you can soon move effortlessly to your new level.
Check out this (long) Fast Company article.
Contact me if you are wondering why nothing ever changes for you, no matter what you do differently.
