Comfort Is The Enemy of Growth

Photo by Linus Nylund on Unsplash

Is comfort the enemy of innovation and growth?

It’s a constant pursuit, this pursuit of comfort, at so many levels. We long to be free of our problems and our issues, to achieve some sense of calmness in our lives.

So, on a personal level, we practice mindfulness and meditation. We want consistency in our lives, a calmness that allows us to operate without worry or concern, at least to the extent possible. 

At a professional level, we want to minimize unpredictability. We want certainty across the business, from our cash flows to our customer base to our operations. 

Nothing wrong with that, and it’s usually a good thing. 

But a fact we need to accept is that comfort and certainty never yield real, meaningful change.

In order to innovate, we need discomfort. We need a sense of material anxiousness about the present. We need dissatisfaction at a significant enough level that we cannot accept where we are today any longer.  

The real changes in our lives have been triggered in just such situations. Whether it's a career transition, a new product or a new business. That trigger is rooted in discomfort. It is the discomfort.

Without it, we’re not changing - not in any positive sense. And if we’re not changing, we’re not moving forward.

So, while the pursuit of comfort is natural, it’s worth remembering that real growth (in any context) won’t occur when we’re truly in its midst.