Getting comfortable with being comfortable- plan for comfort

Comfort above all

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Introduction If you are involved in the self-improvement space, then you would have heard the phrase "Get comfortable being uncomfortable". It is a mantra that encourages people to challenge themselves to succeed and acts as a support to get through difficult situations. However, like every mantra, it is not an absolute truth. In this post, we will look at its counterpart and understand why "Getting comfortable with being comfortable" is also important.

What is being comfortable? When we feel comfortable, we feel at physical and mental ease. Actions completed in this state feel easy and require minimal effort. It is important to be able to identify the actions and activities that are within your comfort zone. These activities and actions are valuable tools for planning.

Planning and life strategies, success and achievement are not chance occurrences. In most cases, they require good plans and strategy to achieve success. We must plan to succeed. Unfortunately, not every plan is successful, and not every person succeeds. There are several reasons that a plan may be unsuccessful. SMART is an acronym that is used to guide goal setting. It can also be useful when thinking about why goals and plans fail. If one of the components is not correctly formulated, it may affect the success of the plan and the achievement of the goal.

Specific - Plans should be clear and specific. This means clear objectives and goals.

Measurable - Plans should be measurable so you can track progress.

Achievable - Plans should be realistic. The objectives and goals must be attainable.

Relevant - Plans should matter to you and make a difference to your life.

Timely/Time bound - Plans should have a deadline, this provides the focus you need to succeed.

The importance of "being comfortable being comfortable" is linked to the "achievable" component of SMART. The absence of being comfortable being comfortable can lead to the formulation of unachievable plans and thus the failure of plans and incompletion of goals. This can occur if people feel their plans need to excessively push and challenge them to be successful or they lack insight, as they may be unaware of what actions and behaviours are realistic for them. These reasons for the failures of our goals can be avoided by learning to get comfortable with being comfortable. When formulating goals it is important to plan for comfort.

Getting comfortable with being comfortable involves learning, accepting, and valuing our comfort zones. In many aspects of life, comfort is linked to laziness. In exercise, if there is "no pain, then no gain"; if you get too comfortable at work, you are encouraged to seek new challenges. While this mindset has value, there is also value in recognizing comfort as expertise. In our comfort zone, we are efficient, confident, and experts at what we are doing. These actions and behaviors that we are comfortable with are our most valuable tools for creating effective, attainable, and realistic strategies. These behaviors and actions are tried and tested and can be trusted to work for us. It makes sense to exhaust these tools when trying to plan and devise strategies before we consider behaviors and activities that will challenge us. There will be occasions when we do not have the tools in our comfort zone to complete our plans or achieve our goals. In these instances, we must "get comfortable with being uncomfortable." However, we can use our knowledge of our comfort zones to do this in a smarter way. We should make sure that the actions we choose, while challenging, should be gradual extensions of our comfort zones. If we choose actions that we are unable to complete, we re-enter the zone of failure due to unattainable plans. Proceeding in this way can lead to low mood, poor self-esteem, and a general dissatisfaction with ourselves. Below are the key points to remember: "Learning to be comfortable with being comfortable"

Summary of key points:

1. Learn about your comfort zones to understand your expertise and the current planning tools available to you.

2. Start planning strategies within your current capabilities. If you design a solution entirely within your current comfort zone, there is a good chance it will succeed!

3. If you need to challenge your comfort levels, do so gradually.

4. Reflect on the successes/failures of the challenges you present yourself.

5. Regularly reflect on your comfort zone, as it should and will change.

If you need additional help learning more about your comfort zones, how to use your comfort zones for effective personal strategy planning, or how to effectively challenge yourself to succeed, feel free to get in contact and check the Emotions and Comfort Zone section on our website.