Comfortable

[j1b]

Why is it we assume that comfort is something needed to see success?

I don't get it. Change in general is uncomfortable. But any circumstance where success or failure is contingent upon a specific event going the way needed is going to be uncomfortable.

Sometimes I think when we see Tiger on 18 with a 1 shot lead we think he's comfortable. He's not. He deals with it well because he understands not being comfortable.

Making it from A class to M class isn't comfortable. It means doing something different. Taking risks. Challenging the process and realizing there will be wins and losses.

I was once a B shooter. Today I'm not, I'm better. The things that made me uncomfortable in yesteryear, when I was a B shooter aren't uncomfortable anymore. They are in fact very comfortable. But it was the stretching outside and expanding the walls of capacity that enabled success.

A GM today will be a mere Master tomorrow if they don't stretch that comfort zone. If they don't get uncomfortable. If they don't question everything and strive to be better every day.

The thought is a generic one to me. It applies to shooting, to work, to life in general for me. It's generic. But relevant in that if I win the lottery tomorrow the true win will be allowing myself to be excrutiatingly uncomfortable, recognizing it, and dealing with it. That winning the lottery (or the promotion, or the match win, or the class win) doesn't allow us to get more comfortable. It actually empowers us to deal with being less comfortable.

Winning is fun. It's hard. And it's not comfortable to do. The sooner we realize that, the more we win.

J

[Kingman]

good idea, something I had never thought of before.

[SiG Lady]

After all these years, I've pretty much decided Life is not meant to be 'comfortable'. It's meant to be a striving, working, learning, reaching sort of thing--which implies a bit of stress just about all the time. It certainly applied to shooting, that was for sure (back when I used to compete). The receipt of a trophy and the "comfort" it brought lasted about five minutes. Then the reaching and striving began anew to either RETAIN the position in the ranking with the next match or better myself the next match.

It also applies to my occupational efforts and related vocational or community activities. No rest for the wicked learners/strivers. And laurels wilt virtually overnight, so humility is mandatory.

Never slacken your drive. The semi-truck on your bumper will crush you if you do. Enjoy the ride.

[BigDave]

I was training a new couple of adjusters when we were in NOLA for Katrina back in '05. They were green and clearly in over their head, but working their butts off to make it happen for our customers and themselves.

One day after a training session, I asked the gentleman "Do you feel overwhelmed?" He replied "yeah, I think we are." I said back to him "Good. You should feel overwhelmed." His expression changed a bit. His face told me he understood what I meant. Overwhelmed and uncomfortable are okay.

[Coach]

A great post. Seems to be spot on. Courage is not being devoid of fear. Courage is being able to control the fear. Seems like you are making much the same argument about comfort.

[HoMiE]

Change. That is one of the hardest things to do. People, habits, perspectives. Change does not come easy. Unless you are willing to do something about it.

[SiG Lady]

And yet some of us THRIVE on Change--and even crave it.

[Duane Thomas]

Back when my greatest dream was to be a published author, I thought to myself, "If I could ever see my byline in print, on a piece of writing I created and completed and submitted and had published, and know it's good, that would be the ultimate - then I could die happy." Came the day I got to see those three little words that mean so much, "by Duane Thomas", I felt really good for about ten minutes. Then I was, like, "Okay, what next?"

[SiG Lady]

I had an entire newspaper column written about me this past Sunday in the local newspaper. Things move slowly here in Eugene, so the thrill will be completely gone by tomorrow. But it WAS kinda nice--yet fleeting and translucent, like life itself.