Breaking the Habit of Being Too Comfortable
Start some uncomfortable habits to break the inertia.
Being too comfortable is more of the state of mind than a habit. So first, I recommend to get the idea why this state is not really desirable and why it’s worth to go out of your comfort zone.
Michał Stawicki’s answer to Why is it important to completely disregard your comfort zone?
Also, the focus on breaking, quitting or avoiding something is wrong. You give negative energy to the whole endeavor. Your thoughts are circling around the issue of comfort all the time. You intensify your feelings around the issue.
It’s more effective to focus your mind on getting uncomfortable. Make this your goal, not breaking away from comfort. And here we arrived to the core of the answer:
Develop new habits that will make you uncomfortable
Two best ways are to practice plenty of small daily uncomfortable habits or repeat one habit very frequently. In the end, they both result in the same — you put yourself in discomfort many times a day.
Being focused on the practice takes your mind entirely away from comfort. Your goal is to experience discomfort many times a day. This is how your state of mind will shift. Instead of dwelling about comfort all the time, your thoughts will be occupied with your disciplines. Your whole identity will shift.
Starting Small
In order to be highly repetitive, those new habits have to be small. It’s a practice, not competition. You don’t need to run naked on the streets. You need small disciplines you can repeat very often.
When I was overcoming my shyness, a couple of small disciplines I embraced were making eye contact and smiling at strangers. For me, that was super uncomfortable.
You see, you don’t need grand actions, you need plenty of actions. The things that make you uncomfortable can be stupid small:
-eating with your non-dominant hand
-using in conversation five times a day a new word
-1-minute physical exercise you don’t usually do (a sprint or pushups)
-being polite to folks whose guts you hate
Only your creativity limits your options.
Don’t break the habit. Create new ones. Your habits make you who you are.
Start with the why. Keep firmly in mind why comfort is dangerous for your wellbeing.
Start small. Practice uncomfortable situations many times a day.
Originally published in Quora.com.
