Tuesday, February 20, 2018

The Beauty of Discomfort

I recently read Amanda Lang's new book - The Beauty of Discomfort.  Great book - simple messages.

She told a number of stories of people who had suffered great adversity (like paralysis, blindness etc) and had still managed to become great successes in life.

There is a section on Linda Hasenfratz who has build Linamar into the powerhouse that it is today.  I enjoyed that section because it rightly pointed out the success Linda has had despite being a woman and the daughter of the founder.  I know Frank (the father) well and am also friends with Linda.

From a Harper Collins review:

Truly successful people don’t merely tolerate discomfort—they embrace it and seek it out again and again. Business founders and university students, top athletes and couch potatoes, meditation gurus and military leaders all have very different ways of coping with discomfort, but the most successful among them believe that withstanding discomfort is a skill that has helped them in hugely positive ways. Some were forced into discomfort through no choice of their own—a life-altering illness, a business fiasco—while others signed up for it because they had goals they were determined to achieve.
Some degree of discomfort is inherently good for you. It can spur you on, pushing you to test your own limits. Learning to tolerate, and then embrace, discomfort is the foundation for change, for individuals and businesses alike. Becoming comfortable with discomfort won’t just make us more resilient and more successful, however we define success. It will also make us happier.
I find when I read or think about a topic, I notice more things about that topic.  I read an article in the NY Times on "The Tyanny of Convenience".  One line "Convenience decides everything".  I know this at some level so often set my life up to make it more convenient to do the right thing - like eating right.  If the good food is close and available - I eat that.  If the bad food is - I eat that.

And an article by Chris Bailey "Chasing Discomfort" talks about unpleasant things often being good for you so you should chase them.  I know that was how I felt working out today.

We work on building a life with convenience then have to work at making ourselves healthy by doing the things we conveniently avoided (like driving instead of walking)

Something to think about next time I have to circle the parking lot at the gym to get a parking space closer to the door.

++++++++++++++++++
And eat your greens to be smarter - see this NPR article.