Comfort Level

Inside each of us is gauge of what is comfortable. Unless properly motivated we become set in our ways, not necessarily happy or unhappy but certainly fearful of moving from what makes us comfortable.

You may not be happy with your job, you may hate your job but you've been there for a long time, you might lose your friends you made there, you make okay money, it takes work to find new work. So you stay comfortable but unhappy.

You may not be happy with the way you look on the outside and commit to a diet that makes you feel better. Then you drive past your favorite drive thru and you're stressed out and traffic is bad and the diet did tell you eat every three hours and its three hours on the nose. You put on your diet face and walk into a friendly get together, there is so much good food and everyone encourages you to eat and when you decline they ask if your okay. Then you tell them your on a diet and you get 'the look' from your friend. The 'Yeah right that will last look.' So you drop off within a week but your happy to not have that mental burden of dieting on you.

These are but two examples of how well intentions are crushed by reality, your job and appearance not meeting the expectations you had for yourself when you dared to dream. Those dreams eventually beat down due to letting apathy, relationships, victimization, complacency all dictate your comfort level.

As hard as it is, change your comfort level. Often times it does not take drastic steps like giving away your flat screen tv (but if your going to do that let me know). It involves surrounding yourself with positive reminders of what your dreams are. I am a big fan of affirmations, most people are not and thats fine. Some people need to just throw away all the junk food in the house and vow to not buy more.

Commit to doing something bigger than you. Take the pressure off of yourself by focusing on the bigger goal. Climb Mt. Rainer. Do a half ironman or marathon. Backpack Europe in style. By focusing on these bigger goals that you want to do in the next one to five years you begin to create a plan to accomplish them. Walking with a backpack or train for an endurance event and you will lose weight.

If your goal is to do something that involves thousands of dollars as in a trip or a house or an event, (climbing Mt. Rainer will cost about $3,500 for all the gear, guide costs and travel expense), traveling Europe much more than that; you will learn to either make more money at work, stop wasting money on non-goal expenses or find a new job/career. Either way you make decisions that not only increase your awareness of money but also give you a chance to expand your mind with studying and possibility thinking and decreasing your waist with the work it will take to make your goal come true.

The point is don't be comfortable with where you are at and don't expect anyone to help you succeed. It starts with you. Not happy with your relationship, then you need to treat that person the way you want them to treat you. If they are abusive you need to get out because no one has the dream of living in abuse. If your determined to accomplish a physical feat, no one will get you out of bed when the alarm goes off, if your with someone they just don't want to be awoken by the alarm any longer.

If the goal is to make more money, lotto tickets are not the answer. Its comfortable though. Instead you need to ask your boss, not for a raise today but what it will take in the next few months using a specific date. Agree with what he needs to see from you in terms of progression to make that raise possible or move to a higher paying position and hold him to it. In the meantime if your in a dead end job that is uninspiring to you, find a new job while your working towards your supervisors goals. In three to six months when you formally meet to discuss your advancements and he says you didn't do enough for a raise, tell him you did your best but someone else sees your value and your moving on because you have two other higher paying jobs waiting to see what happens in this meeting.

The areas in your life you see as pathetic or lacking are based on you making compromises in terms of your comfort level. You can't run three miles, not because you've been fat for a decade, but because you would rather watch tv instead. Your blood pressure is not high because your getting older, its because you would rather walk into a burger joint than down the produce isle for your lunch.

Who wants pictures of themselves sitting around eating with family? That's right, no one. People want pictures themselves accomplishing something like standing outside a foreign building or atop a snow capped peak. Pictures of a life in action. And those action pictures go on the wall, not in a book. In my office I have pictures of me standing on pyramids, standing on mountains, holding a massive fish, my raft being pummeled in a Class 4 rapid. Not for self-aggrandizement but because it reminds me that all of those 'Goals' were really fun to reach and none of them came without sacrifice to my comfort and investment in myself.

When you consciously filter your comfort level through the prism of your financial advancement, schooling, dream trip or other lofty goal; then comfort is not as important as success. The only impact comfortable people make is on the couch, feeling miserable about themselves the entire time. I would rather be known as someone who had success life rather than leading a comfortable one.