What makes you uncomfortable enough to take action?

I read a Game of Thrones episode review on Grantland once that featured the insight from whence this post came:

"The biggest fool isn't the man who remains unaware of his circumstances; it's the man who grows too comfortable within his own."

The worst thing that can happen to any of us is the slow, comfortable death that follows us being just not quite uncomfortable enough to make serious changes in our lives.

This is the person who tells you for years how much they hate their job or are unhappy in their relationships or feel they could be doing better in business... And you see them doing nothing about it. The discomfort, the pain, hasn't hit them hard enough to motivate the massive action that makes the change happen.

The person who's experiencing serious pain at the moment is a person you probably won't have to worry about. The overweight guy who survived a heart attack understands that death is the next event, if change -- massive change -- doesn't happen NOW. The slightly-less overweight guy who always talks about losing weight but still eats friend chicken and cupcakes may live his whole life, and die, just somewhat uncomfortable.

It's like we all live our lives on a line segment that goes from left to right. We all have different starting points, but where we end up -- and if that line angles upward, downward, or stays straight depends on how we feel about the current location of that line from moment to moment. If you're satisfied with your line's location, do you make change? No. You could be poor or a millionaire -- if you're comfortable, you'll stay there. When you're disturbed, either by positive excitement or negative pain, change happens. That's how a millionaire becomes a billionaire, and how a poor person lives their entire life poor.

Being disturbed, by the way, is all mind-controlled. You can trick your brain into being disturbed by anything or nothing at all. This is all in the wiring of your brain, which you can change and control at any time (or at all times). The same thing that informed you yesterday can cause you to say never again today. Your call.


Get disturbed when you want to force change on yourself. Comfort will kill you slowly.