A strange thing happened the other day.
I was at the gym with my personal trainer and he set me a really horrible exercise.
The exercise itself doesn’t matter, the point it is left me absolutely knackered. Muscles hurting, chest pounding, lungs bursting.
“How was that?” he asked.
“Bloody horrible,” I said, “I’m in pain and I’m struggling for breath.”
Let’s make sure we do that again next week
Woah! What did I just say? Do more of it? Surely less is the way forward?
Actually, there was no dilemma. I said it without any hesitation whatsoever. After all, I’m here to improve myself and if an exercise was hard work, then clearly that was an area I needed to improve on. So do more of it.
And it suddenly clicked that this was exactly what people have been telling me for ages that this is how we need to live life and run our businesses.
We are not complete creatures who know and can do everything. We are going to face things that are unfamiliar and challenging.
Our natural tendency is to avoid these things and find the easy things to do. However, if we want to improve ourselves as business owners. As leaders. As people. Then we need to be seeking out the areas of discomfort and ask for more.
Whether you call it stepping outside of your comfort zone, leaning into your edge or just knuckling down. This is where the difference happens.
Enjoyment is not all about relaxing and things being easy. It’s about taking on the challenges and giving it a go.
So what can you do today that will make you feel uncomfortable?
What will get your mental muscles hurting or your business lungs bursting?