There is this comfort trap out that can be seductive but misleading. If you think there is this place where you don’t have to work and you can cruise, you will discover the law of entropy. Without energy, your work fades and dissipates.
Furthermore, with a changing world, you have to continually innovate. Otherwise, your cool product, streamlined business model or world-class service becomes boring and dated. People’s expectations change. We experience an innovation from another business and guess what that means for you. You are now uninteresting.
I like to encourage my clients to embrace a more true paradigm. Chaos and continual dynamic work is the key to ongoing success. When we lived in a world where little around us changed, we could imagine stasis.
However, since we are citizens of a continually changing world, we have to change. The chaos is continual and our value is measured within this context.
Embracing chaos means being comfortable with continual iteration. We have to be on the lookout for innovation and opportunity and then take steps to change what we are doing to what we see or imagine.
Your security is not in some place or ideal in this limited worldview. It is in the ability to shift, move and create.
So, the habit is not necessarily to push towards some ideal. Your habit should be to tinker and question. It means being comfortable with ambiguity and continually pushing yourself into the chaos. If you are settling into the groove or just watching a cash cow then you are decaying. You may not see it today, but it is happening.
Comfort is an understandably attractive place to stay. But jolting yourself will keep you in the game that is going on around you.
If you took a look at where you are, how about changing it up? What one thing could you work on to create a little discomfort for yourself?