You get out of your comfort zone by asking one question: what's more uncomfortable, doing something you've never done before or never doing something you've always wanted to do? I call it What's More Uncomfortable? Answer it honestly, expect the discomfort, and take the smallest action today. Reps turn that discomfort into confidence.
- Ask what's more uncomfortable: doing something new, or never doing what you've always wanted.
- Discomfort is par for the course when you create anything you want in your life.
- Expect the discomfort ahead of time and plan for the obstacles.
- A big leap starts with one small action you repeat until it feels normal.
What is the What's More Uncomfortable question?
What's More Uncomfortable? is the question I ask whenever fear shows up in front of something I want. It gives you two options to weigh: doing something you've never done before, or never doing something you've always wanted to do.
It came out of my work as a creator. Designing your life, creating a brand or launching a podcast all mean doing new things that make you uncomfortable. You might dislike how you look on video or how you sound. Uncertainty fills the journey of creation, and so often it leads to inaction. My answer to the question stays the same.
I am way more uncomfortable never taking action on something that I've always wanted to do.
Rob Cressy
Once you decide you want something so much that you will do whatever it takes, the fear goes away. It works like riding a bike for the first time. Day after day you get more comfortable, you get more confident and the fear dissipates.
How do you know if you are stuck in your comfort zone?
Some people are paralyzed by fear and self-limiting beliefs, and I cover that in how to overcome fear of failure. Comfort also has a quieter version. You like the success you are having and you tell yourself, "I'm good." Good is the enemy of great. Three questions show whether you are playing big or playing small.
| Question | What playing big looks like |
|---|---|
| How often do you lead with reasons why not? | You lead with your vision and the reasons why you should. The how gets figured out along the way. |
| How often do you say "I'm good"? | You keep adding things on. The best in the world have a ton going on and they keep growing. |
| Are you selling your vision? | You let others know what you are creating and give the world a chance to receive it. |
Each "why not" and each "I'm good" is an artificial ceiling we create for ourselves.
How do you get out of your comfort zone step by step?
These steps came together on a call with my community, inspired by a line in Ryan Holiday's book Courage Is Calling: "Put yourself in a position that demands you leap."
- Ask the question. What's more uncomfortable, doing this new thing or never doing what you've always wanted to do?
- Expect the discomfort. One of the quotes I love is "prepare for what's difficult when it's easy." Decide ahead of time how you will handle the obstacles.
- Name your leap. What is the big leap you would love to take or create in your business or your life?
- Choose who you get to be. Look at your state of being. You can see the leap as stranger danger, or you can see it as an opportunity.
- Take the smallest action. Ones over zeros. What is the one thing you can do today that makes progress on that leap?
- Get in your reps. Repeat that action until it feels normal. A daily rep is also how you become consistent.
A big leap is usually one small action you take consistently, over and over again.
How do you get comfortable being uncomfortable?
You get in your reps. On that call my friend Hakim said he wanted to speak on more stages. I encouraged him to see that more stages were accessible to him right that second, because you can always create your own stage. Live streaming is one.
The thing that stops most of us is pressing record. What am I going to say? What if I mess up? Will anybody show up? Hakim did a live stream that day, and so did I. Going live builds earned confidence, because if I mess up, everybody sees it. I had previously turned this into a 21 day live streaming challenge, and a challenge is a great way to grow.
What is under indexing your potential?
Under indexing your potential is my phrase for having far more inside of you than you are using. You find the rest by leaning into the challenge in front of you.
I learned this at the Clearwater half marathon. Six days before the race I tried my first run in three weeks, and a back injury had me in excruciating pain six houses down the street. Skipping the race would have made sense. I told myself I was running it. Showing up to the start line was the most important thing. I ran, my back held up, and I finished. That day proved to me that nothing great ever came from your comfort zone.
Create a self-auditing framework for the moments your self talk gets noisy and tells you to hold back. Treat that voice as a light bulb going off and an opportunity to find out what you are truly made of. It is also the first move in stopping negative self talk.
Do this today
- Answer the question. Write down one thing you've always wanted to do, then ask what's more uncomfortable, doing it or never doing it.
- Show up to the start line. Take the smallest action on it today, even if that means pressing record once.
Listen to the episode
Are You Under Indexing Your Potential
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Read the full transcript
You have so much more potential inside of you that you are leaving on the table. What's up? It's Rob Cressy. And last week I shared a podcast around creating with pain, where I talked about the back injury that I've been dealing with and how I still had a half marathon coming up a few days later. And what I want to do was give you a little recap of what happened in those days.
And I'm very proud to say that last Sunday, I completed the Clearwater half marathon put on by the All Day Running Company. It was one of the best races I've ever been a part of. I ran and my back did not hurt. And this is something that I had no idea was going to happen. Because six days prior, I tried to go on my first run in three weeks. I got six houses down and I almost had to stop because I was in excruciating pain. So that's where I was less than one week before the race.
But during the entire time, even when I was dealing with this challenge, I sat there and said, I'm running that race. I'm about to figure out how gritty what my mental toughness is, what my fortitude is really made of. I saw this as an opportunity for me to take my mindset to the next level. And guess what? I am so thankful that those were the seeds that I planted. And that was the story that I was telling myself.
Because of course, running a half marathon when healthy and trained is still a major challenge. Nonetheless, dealing with a back injury and being half trained at best, that is a very, very big challenge physically as well as mentally. But once I crossed that finish line, I sat there and I was like, man, there is a version of myself or others out there that one week out, they said, you know what? I'm not doing the race. I'm not feeling good today. It would have actually made sense. You're sitting there with an injury. Every reason for why you should not do it. Your friends, your family, the doctor, dude, go ahead and rest.
But guess what? You and I are about that one of one lifestyle and nothing great ever came from your comfort zone. And if you haven't yet, I highly encourage you to read both of David Goggins' books. And the one I read recently, Never Finished. Boom. He talks so much about his mindset of running races through injury, because you find out that there's levels to you inside of you, that you have so much more potential.
And I wanted to share this message with you because you are under indexing on your potential. And so am I. And I'm thankful that on Sunday, which was three days ago, I proved to myself that, you know what, dude, you have so much more inside of you. So now moving forward, anytime I'm dealing with an injury or a challenge in life, all that is for me is a speed bump and an opportunity to create.
Because once you lean into this discomfort and you say, you know what? There's something here that I can learn. And I want to create something new about myself. You will continually create new levels to your mindset and your action that will impress yourself. And that's a quote that I love. Impress yourself. If you could do something today, this week, this month, this year, where you look back and you're like, man, I'm impressed that I did that.
And you know what? I am impressed that I completed this half marathon. I've run plenty of half marathons before. And I was never worried that I was ever not going to finish them. But this one, when I stepped up to the finish line, I'm like, I don't know how far I'm going to be able to go. And actually in the back of my mind, I was like, there's no way I'm not finishing this. But I really didn't because there was a scenario where if all of a sudden my back started to spasm and I couldn't move any forward, I was going to have to bow out of the race.
But for me, showing up to the start line was the most important thing. I was at least willing to give it a shot. In how many instances of your life are you not showing up to the start line and not giving it a shot? And even more importantly, what is the story that you're telling yourself, the self-talk that you have that stopped you from creating that? Because the story that you get to listen to, that you get to create is the story of the most powerful version of yourself.
So I encourage you to create a self-auditing framework for yourself. And when you notice that your self-talk is getting all noisy and bitchy, and it's not serving you, and it's living in lack, and it's telling you not to do things, ding, ding, ding. This is a light bulb that should be going off in your head that says, wait a second, this is an opportunity. I'm not that person. I want to find out what I am truly made of.
And this is something that applies to all areas of our life because we are oftentimes the governor, the thing that stops us from creating the growth that we want. So instead, I encourage you to lean into the challenges, the uncertainty, the pain, the judgment, the difficulty, because that's what the best of the best do. We prepare for what's difficult when it's easy, because there will come a time in your life in which things will be challenging. And then what I want you to do is to show up to that start line and say, let's go. I'm about to find out what I'm made of.
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