THE LIFESTYLE ENTREPRENEUR

Read time - 5 minutes

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Comfort Zones & The Beginner’s Mentality

The science of discomfort is starting to reveal some amazing things that we know intuitively if we're honest with ourselves.

The Question:

I’m sure this audience generally accepts the concept that growth is found outside our comfort zones. But what happens when the uncomfortable becomes comfortable, or even enjoyable?

Background:

A recent Andrew Huberman episode with David Goggins sparked this topic for me. Goggins explained his philosophy around discomfort - that he constantly needs to put himself in situations that are not only uncomfortable, but that he dislikes or even hates - in order to continue growing as a person.

What hit me was the part about his running - which I never really understood why he continues to run so much after repeated injuries - surely there are other ways to challenge yourself physically. He explained he runs because he hates running, so he constantly needs to talk himself through these experiences.

Huberman went on to explain that there's a part of the brain that grows when humans encounter uncomfortable experiences - and as soon as they stop it shrinks.

That's a paraphrase of a decent episode, which can be found here.

The General Concept

We all can accept and embrace that growth, learning, and progress occurs when we step outside of our comfort zones.

Take running - when we start everything is uncomfortable. If we stick with it we adapt and get better, go faster, and things feel easier and easier. After just a few months of adaptation, we need to either continually push outside of our comfort zone (which gets harder and harder to push outside of as we develop proficiency), or we stay within our expanded comfort zone.

Huberman’s scientific statements, and Goggins’s anecdotal experiences, suggest that the moment we start enjoying the running is when that part of the brain that develops from hardship, stops growing.

This made me think about my personal jiu jitsu practice immediately:

I've practiced consistently since mid-2017 and am currently a middling purple belt in the depths of trying to balance enough frequency to continue developing my skillset. It's still very uncomfortable for me even after 5+ years of training, and I have no doubt it's one of the best things I've ever done to expand my comfort zones.

Jiu jitsu does get "easier" over the years, however. As your skill develops you get more efficient, and have to exert less energy. And it gets fun, in a weird way. So my question to myself is - if I'm at the point where I enjoy this - how do I ensure I'm staying outside of my comfort zone?

I’ve always prided myself on my “embracing of hard things” like jiu jitsu - which is legitimately hard.

However, as jiu jitsu becomes something that I genuinely enjoy and don’t dislike doing - I do believe the development of that part of my brain will stop from that stimulus.

This of course made me want to make a framework!

The Difficulty/Experience Matrix

Starting with the primary wellness activities I regularly participate in, here’s a 3x3 of perceived difficulty/enjoyment on the Y-axis, and level of proficiency on the x:

This is a fun exercise for a few reasons:

1. Audit of wellness practices to lay out the magnitude of activities I participate in along with where I spend mental energy

2. Forces introspection about everything I spend my energy on

And ultimately I found it pretty easy to honestly lay out what feels difficult and what doesn’t.

Huberman and Goggins would argue if I want to continue develop, I need to always spend time in the “dislike/feels hard” category.

For me that currently looks like:

1. Daily stretching/mobility I’ve been focusing on for about 3 months

2. Continued cold exposure and more frequency of cold plunges (I’ve gotten the morning cold shower up into the neutral category over the past year to the point I never skip it and it doesn’t really bother me anymore - crazy since a year ago it was the worst thing I could imagine doing 🙂

3. Deliberate work to prioritize and stick with my meditation plan, which has been slacking lately

4. Consistent work on reducing my daily Iphone Pickups, and adjusting my work so it doesn’t require phone usage after 7pm

5. Running - I’m going to do the marathon this year which I’ve done once every 10 years since I was 24

Does this mean I need to reduce things that I “enjoy” doing and are theoretically not forcing growth? Absolutely not.

Just because walking is easy for me doesn’t mean it’s not good for me. We need things that we’re good at and are easy for us in our lives. The percentage breakdown is for each of us to decide individually.

Does this framework work for the rest of life?

Work, relationships, spirituality, sex life, hobbies?

My guess is yes - but digging in is for another edition. I’m going to plug in my current work activities as an exercise to help prioritize them.

I can assure you all, in case you can’t tell, that writing newsletters is in the beginner category, and is just starting to move from the “dislike/difficult” to “neutral” category.

Give it a try for yourself - I’d recommend starting in an area you’re trying to grow.

And remember - it’s not just our about expanding our comfort zones and horizons, it’s about doing things that feel difficult or unpleasant.

I’ll talk to you next week,

Mike

Thanks for reading The Lifestyle Entrepreneur

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