Comfortable With Discomfort
If you want outcomes you haven’t achieved before, there’s an unavoidable truth you eventually have to face: you’re going to have to do things you haven’t done before. That sounds obvious, but in practice, it’s where most growth quietly stalls. We look for new results while subconsciously trying to stay inside the same behaviors, habits, and decisions that feel familiar and safe.
Discomfort usually shows up as hesitation, second-guessing, or avoidance. It might be the conversation you’ve been putting off, the decision you’re afraid to own publicly, or the responsibility you’re not sure you’re ready for. It’s not that you can’t do the thing; it’s that you haven’t yet built evidence that you can. And without that evidence, fear fills in the gaps.
What helps is reframing discomfort as data instead of danger. Feeling uncomfortable is often the clearest signal that you’re operating at the edge of your current capability. That edge is where growth actually happens. Staying inside what’s familiar might feel efficient in the short term, but it guarantees that nothing meaningfully changes.
When discomfort shows up, a few principles help you move through it instead of around it:
- Name and detail the fear specifically - Vague anxiety is powerful. A detailed worst-case scenario is not as horrific as you think.
- Shrink the scope - You don’t need to master the whole thing. Take the first step and build confidence before diving in fully.
- Expect imperfection - First attempts are supposed to feel clumsy. Nobody became an expert in a day.
- Separate identity from outcome - Failing at something new doesn’t say anything about who you are. Failure is part of the journey for everyone.
- Build reps, not hero moments - Confidence comes from repetition, not breakthroughs.
Over time, something interesting happens. The same discomfort that once felt heavy starts to feel energizing. It becomes a signal that you’re stepping outside your default patterns and into new territory. What used to register as fear begins to register as opportunity. Not because the work gets easier, but because your relationship with uncertainty changes. Discomfort turns into excitement when you realize it means you’re expanding the box instead of living inside it.
A Note From The Founder
When I was younger, business travel felt like a reward. New city. New hotel. Meals on someone else’s tab. There was novelty in the movement itself, and the trip felt like validation that the work mattered. I looked forward to it as a break from routine and a signal of progress.
These days, travel feels different. The excitement isn’t about the destination anymore, it’s about the people. As a fully remote organization, time together is rare and valuable. Being in the same place with team members elevates the quality of conversation. You pick up nuance. You build trust faster. You create a shared context that carries forward long after the trip ends.
Because of that, I think about travel much more intentionally now. The goal isn’t just to show up somewhere, but to make the time genuinely effective. Clear agendas. Thoughtful pacing. Space for real connection instead of constant rushing. When people give up time away from their normal routines, the experience should feel worthwhile, not draining.
That shift mirrors how my view of work has evolved overall. Less about surface-level perks, more about long-term value. Less about motion, more about meaning. When travel is designed well, it strengthens relationships, sharpens alignment, and pays dividends long after everyone is back home. I am still crossing my fingers for that flight upgrade though.
— Kyle
Learn the System Behind the Ideas | Rhythm & Results
Remote Rhythm
from
Raising The Standard
Organizations don’t achieve new outcomes by staying comfortable. If you want different results than last year, something has to change in what you consider acceptable. That usually means raising standards, and that process is almost always uncomfortable at first.
Raising the standard doesn’t mean being unreasonable or burning people out. It means being honest about what “good enough” has quietly become. Maybe 90 percent completion has been fine historically, but the next phase requires 95 percent. Maybe output needs to double in a specific area, even though it feels ambitious. Maybe there’s a new channel, market, or opportunity that hasn’t been touched yet because it feels unfamiliar.
Each of those moves creates tension. It’s easier to protect the current baseline than to challenge it. But organizations that don’t periodically raise their internal bar end up optimizing for comfort instead of growth. They get very good at repeating last year’s performance, even as goals quietly drift further out of reach.
As a leader, part of your responsibility is to normalize this discomfort. To say, clearly and calmly, “What got us here won’t get us where we’re going.” That doesn’t require fear-based pressure. It requires clarity, support, and a willingness to sit in the awkward phase where expectations have risen but capability hasn’t fully caught up yet.
Growth happens in that gap. The moment you decide not to lower the target just because it feels hard is the moment the organization starts expanding its capacity. You won’t always get it right on the first attempt. That’s expected. What matters is refusing to let discomfort be the reason you don’t try.
If you want to do better than last year, you have to be willing to operate differently than last year. Higher standards create better outcomes, but only if you’re willing to step outside the comfort zone that made the old standards feel safe.
