Discomfort + Default = Disaster

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Brian Kight

Perspectives and feelings about discomfort vary but are always strong. They’re layered with enough complexity of thought and emotion that the easiest decision to make is to do what feels comfortable and not do what feels uncomfortable.

That is the default approach, which is the most popular. It is not popular because it works well and leads to a life of joy, meaning, and personal fulfillment. It is popular because it is the path of least immediate resistance.

People everywhere are paying the price for their undisciplined avoidance of discomfort. Sadly, the price lasts a lifetime in many cases, and the patterns get instilled in the next generation, who carry the consequences forward.

As always, when we face something complex, simplify it down to the fundamentals that matter. Then, focus on getting your discipline right on those fundamentals.

  1. Discomfort is a feeling.
  2. Feelings are signals.
  3. Signals tell you to do something.
  4. You decide whether or not to follow the signal.

Default says, “Discomfort is bad. Stay away from it. And don’t do whatever might cause it.”

Discipline says, “Discomfort is only a signal. What is this signal trying to tell me? And what is the value in doing this despite the discomfort?”

Not all discomfort is good or necessary, but because the default approach treats all discomfort as bad, it rejects necessary or productive discomfort. That is the danger.

Because the disciplined approach looks for the signal in the discomfort and how much value there is, it is a better evaluator. Discipline recognizes discomforts worth avoiding but also recognizes discomforts worth embracing.

A significant amount of your fate depends on whether you choose the disciplined or default approach to discomfort.

Event + Response = Outcome. Do the work.

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