Why comfort is the enemy of effort?

We tend to abandon new projects because we don’t see fast results or because we are afraid that ending them would lead us to a bigger task, one that demands more from us for which we are not prepared.

Other times we do it for convenience, this being the main reason why people who join the gym abandon quickly. You always think "I'd like to be thinner" (the classic New Year Eve resolution), but when you put in a little effort without seeing fast results you wonder if you really need to lose weight. Running from danger is no longer necessary for survival, why do we need to sweat so much? We always leave many goals unfinished until the last moment for when the level of stress is enough to motivate us but not so much to hospitalize us.

The saddest thing of all is that many times these abandonment end up costing us more than we would like.

When someone gets a job where many applied but couldn’t get it we consider it as luck, we think like this to protect ourselves from reality but, as one friend of mine once said, "that's not luck, it was simply when preparation meets opportunity".

We do not realize how many opportunities are around the corner and many times they are due to the little efforts we make continuously. Many cite Chinese proverbs to motivate themselves as "the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second is today", but they do not take real action.

We can achieve many things but we can’t convince ourselves to reach for them due to comfort, and that's why I want to give you this little piece of advice, it's time to do some personal sabotage. This term may sound a bit strong because it is always associated with the mental limitations that we impose on ourselves, but I want to refer to it as to make us become uncomfortable to really value and develop.

Here are 5 examples that can help:

1) Place your cellphone as far away from your bed when you go to sleep. The number one reason why we don’t wake up early is because we continue to use our cell phone in bed or use the snooze function of the alarm. Again, it is the discomfort that we seek, we’ll get use to this practice after some time. The most difficult thing about waking up is to get out of bed, especially during winter, so it is vital to change habits.

Laziness, I would say, is almost the greatest enemy of progress.

2) Practice mindfulness to turn off conformist thoughts. Whenever we want to do something new these thoughts will appear 1) Do I really need to do this? 2) Why should I learn it if I can pay someone else to do it? 3) If there is already someone great doing this, how will I stand out in the future? 4) Will it really change my life if I do?

Mindfulness is the practice of freeing the mind of inconvenient thoughts so that we can focus on the moment. It doesn’t mean not to feel, it’s not being trapped in uncertain futures. Many times we limit ourselves to comparing ourselves with others, evaluating our results as inferior or simply for convenience, stopping the progress, excusing ourselves saying that we are satisfied with being in the bag and not excelling.

The thoughts of "I can’t do it" or "I will never be good enough" are always there because in this world where we are all connected it is easy to find an 8 year old boy who can play the piano perfectly with his eyes closed. Being able to silence those thoughts and simply focus on what we have to do is a practical skill for any situation, and the simple fact of being able to develop this is extremely valuable.

Envy and comparison can be formidable enemies but in turn can be strong allies if you can channel them.

3) Prepare small strategic reminders. As an example, if you want to develop the use of your non-dominant hand, putting the toothbrush on this side serves to not use the dominant hand automatically. If you want to exercise, put the mat in front of the door, to not give you an excuse that you have forgotten. We have programed too many things to make our life easier, to the point that one can spend their entire life doing the minimum and survive, and we have become accustomed to this. It is necessary to take reins to improve as tomorrow will come and if we do not put obstacles to improve and grow, "luck" will not find us.

Write your goals and share them. If we don’t establish them in a physical way we will not do anything, if we mark them but we don’t share them out loud we will not feel accountable to someone (but make sure that someone who listens is important to you, not does random followers).

4) Understand that progress can be small or big, but it is always there. "Rome was not built in a day" is a simple way to represent that completing something is progressive, and many times we do not realize it. Failure is acceptable as long as we don’t take it personally and learn from it. If one takes things with the mentality that it is right to err (since honestly, to the people who really matter if we fail and learned from it, they will be happy for us), we can live a life with greater fulfillment. No one is perfect and because of this we MUST allow ourselves to fail.

5) In this race called life we are only competing with ourselves. Comparing with others is always going to exist, and more now with social networks, but at the end of the day the person that we are going to deal with and to whom we have to answer to is ourselves. We don’t know the reality of others, problems or the opportunities they had, we can try to compare for inspiration in the possibilities we could have if we try hard (often I end up stealing ideas of things to do when comparing), but I do not advise taking it further. Take some time to think about where you want your path to take you and plan some actions to reach it.

If there is something I would like to leave you with is to take an hour as soon as possible (move away from cell phones, screens and people) where you can see where you are, think about the things you have achieved, the things you want and how you will do it . If what you see is displeasing, that is OK, it does not mean that you can’t change your reality. The important thing is not being a prisoner of situations. Otherwise we will continue to see many lucky people without being one of them, and think about what is next. Here is something that chases me every day: