I have noticed a trend lately…the more comfortable a person is, the less motivated the are.
I believe this is an extremely important psychological factor to keep in mind when setting goals, and pursuing success.
The person who works the hardest, is often the person wants it the most. Or put another way, the person who is the MOST UNCOMFORTABLE with their current situation.
With that in mind, I believe that a lack of motivation stems from being comfortable.
As a coach, I spend a lot of time observing. And I’ve noticed that the people who lack motivation are the very ones who are comfortable where they are. They may say they want to change or do XYZ, but when push comes to shove, they fear the unknown. They would rather stay mired in rut of mediocrity than risk the unknowns of the environment outside their comfort zone.
Let’s look at some examples.
I will use my professional career as an example. When I first left the modeling industry and began working as trainer/nutritionist full-time, I got VERY comfortable very quickly. When I say comfortable, I’m not talking about income. I’m talking about being complacent and losing that hunger. My passion for training and nutrition was still burning and I was still reading and learning as much as possible. But I was complacent in my application of that knowledge. I was content with my current client-base and I did nothing to promote myself or brand myself. I treated my personal training job as if it were a 9-5, clock-punching type of thing. NO seminars, no local TV promos, no blogging or article publications – nothing that would help me establish myself or reach an audience greater than the one that walked into my appointment book.
But TODAY, I’m living the exact opposite…and a lot of that change is due to the fact that I made a conscious decision to take a leap. And that leap put me in an uncomfortable position that forced me to take action! Even the most dedicated and passionate people in this world can become complacent when things are going their way. But if you put yourself in a position where you back is against the wall and you’re a bit uncomfortable – you will do 1 of 2 things:
- Adapt and improve
- Return to your comfort zone and remain the same. This is also called quitting.
- The January “new-years resolutioner” wants to get in shape and drop a few pounds. He thinks all he has to do is show up, take a few classes, spin some treadmill hours, and PRESTO! WRONG…he needs to get outside his comfort zone, consult a coach who can prevent him from making those mistakes and show him the true path to his goals. Eat less crap, lift heavy ass weights, sprint, move more, carry heavy ass objects, sleep 8 hours a night and lay off the sweets and booze! Guess what? Making those changes takes our guy outside of his comfort zone and gives him those 2 choices from above. Adapt and improve OR quit and stay the same.
- The All-everything high school athlete who suddenly finds herself battling for playing time as a D-1 freshman…What does she do? Continue to try to ride her parade of high school honors and wind up on the bench, quitting by year 2 and retiring from organized sport? Or, does she “man”-up, put her head down and go to work becoming stronger, faster, more explosive. Learning more about the game and learning her playbook inside and out, showing up early and staying late…Guess which choice leads to All-conference, All-America, and draft day smiles???
If you’ve been stuck in rut, or just want to shake things up and see some new progress, make a choice that takes you outside your comfort zone. Start a bet with your enemy to see who loses 10 pounds first, challenge the best player on your team to gain 10 pounds on your squat…do something that forces you to take action. The choice is yours!
Take a few minutes to think about what is holding you back. No matter how good you are, we can ALL improve and get better! That is the idea behind “pursue perfection”. If someone were to hold a gun to your head, I’m sure you could come up with 1 or 2 reasons why you haven’t made first team, squatted 405, lost those last 10 lbs, etc, etc. In the comments below, share either what is holding you back or what you are going to do to make yourself uncomfortable and FORCE that change!