Comfort.
It can be a dirty word. We are often told our success lies just outside our comfort zone.
Which means that discomfort is king when it comes to success.
While I believe in that (and I truly do) for stretching ourselves, growing, accomplishing more and achieving our goals, the absolute reverse is needed in other areas of our life.
When it comes to our career, our life goals and personal development, discomfort is key. It stretches us, we gain new skills, grow in confidence and it allows us to reach a new ceiling. What once was hard is no longer hard and we can feel really good about ourselves.
I think that in other areas of our lives, we should aim for maximum comfort. This often comes from making hard decisions and being super clear on what we want. This allows us to maximise our time and truly spend it enjoying our life.
For Paul and I, we love living in a place which takes minimal effort from us. So that means we live in an apartment, with 2 bedrooms and space for us to sprawl but not get lost in. Even better, we can afford the cost of a cleaner to add even more ease. Maximum comfort, very little effort.
This means we can spend our weekends sleeping in, out in nature, sitting in a cafe, going to the theatre – whatever we want because we don’t need to spend our time cleaning, maintaining or fixing. It also means our money isn’t tied up in our home either.
Yes, it does mean entertaining is harder. That we can only have a few people over. We don’t have room for guests. However, our abundance of comfort overrides these issues.
Another example of us choosing comfort over economy is our office space.
I love that I have a room to work out of. However, I only use the office two full days a week and Paul spends half a morning a week in there. The smart thing would be to rent out the space the other three days. It would save us money and be so much more efficient.
But at what cost?
I would have to find a therapist who wants to sublease. Then, I will want to make space for their equipment and resources. Then, I will have to navigate my clients wanting to use resources that aren’t mine. If I want to change my days, there will be reduced flexibility and more discussions. If there are issues with the space, I will have to be the person to solve them.
So for me, the comfort of having the space just for us and our clients outweighs any cost benefits of subleasing. Comfort wins yet again.
The benefits of making choices that add more comfort to your life is truly underrated.
To have a lifestyle that offers comfort that sits well within your means is truly underrated.
Making decisions that go against the grain but give you 100% comfort, control and flexibility is underrated.
Discomfort is only meant for short periods of time for a clear goal which you want to achieve.
It’s discomfort for future comfort.
For the rest of the time, i.e. the majority of everyday life, comfort is key as it will give you the space, time and freedom to know what to get uncomfortable about.
So next time you are looking to make a decision, look at it through the lens of comfort and maximising your joy and ability to thrive.
