Change simply cannot be fostered within your comfort zone. Your comfort zone is not designed for progress. The breeding ground for mediocrity is your comfort zone. Here’s a sign that you’re not making progress. YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE! It’s like mixing oil and water. The composite of change and comfort, will not bring forth valuable results. You need to be looking for ways which make you feel uneasy which allow you to progress. 

Now don’t take this to mean that this whole process will be agonizing. Once the necessary steps are taken, the rewards you will receive from your hard work and consistency will far surpass the temporary discomfort you experience which will lead you to be more than willing to feel a little uncomfortable just to gain those benefits.

If you intend to make progress, you will inevitably encounter new challenges. You can rest easy knowing what previously presented a challenge will now be an asset to further prepare you for new challenges. However, I can guarantee that any amount of effort you think you will need to put in now will need to be multiplied by 10! For example, if your goal is to achieve 100 pushups without rest, you will need to do 100 pushups 10 times over an extended time period to achieve 100 straight pushups. No, this is not a scientific formula to achieve 100 straight pushups but focus on the principle. Always keep in mind that the effort you think it will take to achieve a goal will exceed your expectation. 

Venturing into the unknown is almost always intimidating. However, after being in the unknown for some time, it becomes familiar territory and you learn what you need to do to survive. You need to be willing to get uncomfortable momentarily if you want to learn and use these intimidating situations to your advantage in the future. Make your biggest problems your greatest strengths! If a few obstacles is all it takes for you to quit, chances are your ultimate goal was not clear and did not hold enough value. Chances are you’ve developed habits over time that have landed you in your current situation. It was the repetitive action of going through a specific cycle for so long that now it’s the norm.

Habits are not set in stone. Your conscious mind subtracts itself from the decision making process in order to reserve that energy for more critical thinking task which it may not be quite familiar with yet. You have to intentionally fight a habit unless you seek out new routines to replace the old one. This is working smart. Instead of leaving a void where that old habit used to exist, why not replace it with a new habit which will yield greater value? Everything we consider to be “normal” which requires no conscious effort is just a habit. Take a moment to think about the things that you do on a daily basis without having to make a conscious decision. 

At the end of the day, lasting results is what you’re looking to achieve, not a temporary quick fix that will inevitably ware off. Developing as many habits which in turn will provide you the highest return is what you should focus on developing. Creating a LIFESTYLE change. Not a “oh it’s almost summer! I better start working out two weeks before it starts to get warm!” With that way of thinking you simply cannot and will not attain lasting results.