Motivation from Discomfort

Motivation from Discomfort

Last week many Americans went back to school, started new sport seasons and began new life chapters. New beginnings tend to create feelings of discomfort. We typically don’t like feeling uncomfortable, so try to avoid the feeling. However, discomfort often presents us with our biggest opportunities and the best way to grow.

Rob de Castella, winner of the 1983 World Marathon Championships, once said, “If you feel bad at 10 miles, you're in trouble. If you feel bad at 20 miles, you're normal. If you don't feel bad at 26 miles, you're abnormal.” 

Feeling bad isn’t just something we experience while running, discomfort occurs in many areas of life. We hear all types of successful people have a healthy relationship with discomfort.

• NBA champion coach Joe Mazzulla likes the uncomfortable a bit more than most people like the uncomfortable according to his player Derrick White. Watch Derrick discuss it at time stamp 1:30 in this video. 

• Best selling author of the book Endure, Cameron Hanes, has become good friends with pain over the years as he’s with Cameron on all his most memorable and rewarding challenges. 

• Billionaire and modern astronaut Jared Isaacman believes it is imperative to learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Read more about Jared’s trip to space here.

Regardless of how you experience discomfort, here are 3 ways to use it as motivation:

Feelings aren’t the same as results: It can be easy to conflate feelings with results. However, negative feelings can produce positive results and positive feelings can produce negative results. So when experiencing pain, keep in mind that the result being produced will not necessarily be the same as what is being felt.

Growth doesn’t happen in the comfort zone: Growth does not occur while we are comfortable. Instead of staying in our comfort zones, experiencing discomfort will help us develop new skills and become more capable.

Everything will pass: Whether it is while we are running the 25th mile of a marathon or the discomfort that we feel in other ways, remembering that the feeling will pass can help us to endure it. Instead of focusing on our current discomfort, thinking about the future positive feeling of achievement can help us continue on. Life is just what we are doing until we die.

Thanks for reading. Let’s have a great week!