Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

6 Steps to Get you Started

Have you ever come across something you knew you should do but reallyyy didn’t want to?

Maybe because it was uncomfortable, intimidating…like just the thought of it makes your stomach turn.

For me, this is speaking on camera.  I don’t know what it is about it.  Maybe it’s the classic fear of criticism and the wondering of, What will people think? What if they don’t like me or what I have to share? Why would anyone want to listen to me in the first place? (good old imposter syndrome).

If I’m being honest, I’m still working my way there.  The first course I filmed I spent so much time creating and filming.  The content was good but my delivery made me feel so icky I took it down just as fast as I put it up.  The second course was a little better- still slightly icky looking at myself on camera and hearing myself speak, but there was improvement.  

Oftentimes, we are our own worst critic and don’t give ourselves the grace to improve with practice.  We see all these “professionals” with their finished products and polished personas and we forget that they too, every single one of them, started exactly where we did, at zero, and had to build from the ground up.  What we don’t see are the failures, the set backs, the struggles that they have had to consistently endure to reach where they are.

The truth is though, is that we all innately know that in order to reach our goals, chances are, there will be those one or few things that make us feel uncomfortable that we have to do to get the result we want.  Positive change requires uncomfortable action, but the rewards are priceless.  

Here are 6 things I’ve found helpful in the journey to overcoming that which is uncomfortable.

• Get out of your head.  The inner imposter syndrome dialogue of how you’re not good enough etc. is not a healthy one to have on replay.  Focus on the solutions to the concerns you have and get to work on them bit by bit.  We will never feel 100% ready, so the key is to start now and start failing and learning and getting better.
• Just do it.  Don’t overthink it.  Done is better than perfect.  You can always tweak and refine afterward.
• Be open to baby steps if big leaps are not your style.  The main thing is, you keep moving forward.
• Practice in private.  What’s that saying again? 

“It’s what you practice in private that you will be rewarded for in public.”

-Tony Robbins 

• Tap into your bigger reason why.  When we remind ourselves of the bigger picture, why we are going for this goal, it can help to keep us on track.
• Getting comfortable being uncomfortable requires consistent practice.  Like any habit we want to build, we have to stick to it, day after day….after day :)

In closing, there is a sentence above I would like to repeat: Positive change requires uncomfortable action, but the rewards are priceless.  So the sooner we can get comfortable being uncomfortable, the sooner we will be on the road to success, in any area of life.

I hope these tips will help you to realize that you are not alone and will give you the courage and the tools to keep stepping forward.