Uncomfortable Is the New Comfortable

July 21, 2024

Personal growth isn't a destination — it's a continuous journey fueled by intentional efforts and self-discovery. It's an opportunity to learn more about yourself, including your wants, needs, and responsibilities, and to take steps to align your personal and professional life accordingly. It can be transformative and challenge you to step out of your comfort zone, helping you realize you can become more comfortable with almost anything. At the very least, you will hopefully learn to become more comfortable with feeling uncomfortable — and that's no small feat. 

Personal growth is necessary for your professional development. By learning about yourself and how to address difficult situations effectively, you're more likely to develop skills that benefit you in your work life, such as healthy leadership, productivity, creativity, and inspiration, rather than stagnation, anxiety, and distrust. 

When organizations prioritize professional development, they invest in their leaders' personal growth. They understand the importance of the non-technical side of leadership and how becoming more skillful communicators can build accountability, trustworthiness, and productivity among teams who are motivated and inspired to do their best work every day.

Avoiding uncomfortable conversations is an all too common trait in the workplace, especially when it comes to saying something that you know others won't be happy about hearing. Rationalizations can become justifications that keep you in avoidance mode and override the necessity for addressing topics that keep you stuck, frustrated, or in over-functioning roles.

For example, when motivated leaders recognize how their tendency to avoid difficult situations isn't helping themselves, their team, or their organization, they are more willing to face challenges head-on by engaging others more directly, productively, responsibly, and empathetically. They may stop doing others' incomplete work or correcting incorrect work and start communicating what must be amended and resubmitted. 

Chances are, you've been on the receiving end of avoidance tendencies, too. For example, when interviewing for a job, it feels great to receive positive feedback and next steps, and just as disappointing when you realize you've been ghosted — left wondering why someone wouldn't extend the courtesy of letting you know that you weren't chosen for the role.

Boundaries are your personalized core values that specify what you are willing or not willing to do. They serve as your guide, your moral compass of sorts, and provide internal warning bells advising you to pause and think about what you're potentially going to do. 

For example, if your job includes signing documents that don't align with your boundaries, be it morally, ethically, or legally, know that you always have the agency to choose how you engage — meaning you can decide not to sign. You'll presumably feel uncomfortable when informing others of your decision and with the potential consequences of your decision, but look ahead into the future and consider how you'll feel knowing that you stood up for yourself and your beliefs. Hopefully, it's a decision that will far outweigh the discomfort you could have otherwise experienced. 

Professional development rests upon personal growth, a transformative journey that can be both uncomfortable and challenging. It requires acknowledging and integrating past and present life experiences and gaining insight into how they shape thoughts, emotions, and self-regulation, all of which contribute to becoming more skillful at successfully navigating challenges.

Whether in times of calm or heightened stress, leaders striving to inspire, guide, and develop their teams realize the benefits of tackling difficult yet necessary tasks, such as confronting obstacles directly, rather than avoiding them, and delivering candid messages. Prioritizing a consistent effort to think differently can lead to a shift in mindset about your growth work, transforming it from frustrating and challenging to satisfying and rewarding. By keeping an open mind and willingly continuing on this journey, you will hopefully realize sooner rather than later that being uncomfortable is the new comfortable.