Hey Reader! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻

I hope you kicked ass last week and are fired up for the week ahead! If you’re not excited about what lies in front of you, at least a bit, it’s time for a shake up. If you’re not excited, maybe even a bit nervous, you’ve settled in your work.

Settling is what leads to stagnation.

That’s what we’ll explore this week.

Let’s go!

Tim

Turbo-charge Your Career 🚀 By Stepping Off The Comfort Treadmill

Turbo-charge Your Career By Stepping Off The Comfort Treadmill

Does your career feel like you’re just running on a treadmill? You keep going and going, as hard as you can, but you just aren’t getting anywhere? Every time you try to run harder, does the treadmill speed up, leaving you exhausted but no further ahead?

This sense of endless running while making no progress feels true for a huge number of people today. That is sad. And it is certainly no way to live your life. This perpetual motion without progress is draining.

You need to step off the treadmill.

Simple! But not easy.

Why isn’t it easy to just step off the treadmill? Because the treadmill is familiar. You know you can do it, as you’ve been doing it day in and day out, for years now. You have proof that you’re capable of keeping up. And that knowledge keeps you stuck.

What might happen if you step off? You’re not sure, as you’ve not done it in a long time.

When you know that you’re able to do something, that you’ve got everything you need to succeed, and you’ve done it repeatedly, it feels comfortable. Even if it’s not something you enjoy doing, just knowing that you can comforts you.

But that comfort is antithetical to progress and growth.

Growth and comfort don’t co-exist.

Think of going to the gym to lift weights. Lifting heavy weights is tough and induces physical discomfort. But it is exactly this physical discomfort that causes your muscles can grow. Those muscles won’t grow with you sitting comfortably on a couch; growth requires you to go against your human nature and to get uncomfortable. The same principle applies to your professional life.

Why should you care? After all, you’re comfortable, right? So why can’t you just stay right where you are?

Because the world is changing around you, and at an increasing pace. If you’re not changing while the work environment is, you’re falling behind. Staying static and unchanging in the current work environment is a sure-fire recipe for obsolescence.

Comfort leads to boredom. There is a bit of a paradox here; humans crave comfort, but not for too long. If there is no novelty in one’s life, you’ll inevitably create drama and cause problems just to have some excitement. You need to recognize that fear and excitement are two sides of the same coin, which is why they feel so similar in the body. While we crave comfort, we need excitement. And often excitement comes from doing something where the outcome is uncertain.

Remember that comfort and growth cannot coexist, and that staying comfortable in your work means that you’re moving backwards. While it doesn’t feel great, you need to intentionally make yourself uncomfortable and embrace your discomfort as a sign of progress and change.

Step off the treadmill and start moving your career forward. Identify one area of your work where you’re staying too small and comfortable, and commit to a specific, small action where you step out of your comfort zone.

Let me know what you did and how it felt!

Quotation that I’ve been pondering

The author Robert Greene has a great quote that is relevant to this week’s theme.

“The need for certainty is the greatest disease the mind faces.”

We live in a complicated world where there are no obvious answers and little certainty. As a result, you need to learn to go against your natural desire for certainty, and act in spite of it.

The only thing you can control is the action; the outcome will be what it will be. Either way, you win just by taking the action.

Journal prompt

“”Reflect on the last time you felt truly challenged in your work. Describe the situation and how you felt. What were the outcomes? Now, identify one area in your current work life where you feel complacent. What specific steps can you take to challenge yourself in this area? How might stepping outside your comfort zone in this way lead to growth and improvement in your career?”

By reflecting on how you’ve navigated through challenges in your career before, and lived to fight another day, you’re reminding yourself that you are capable.

Your call to adventure

Are you ready to step off your career treadmill and inject some excitement into your career?

I got you! Book your career strategy call with me, and together we will identify areas where you can step out of your comfort zone and set you on a path of growth and progress.

Let’s put the fun back into your work!

Book 1-on-1 career conversation