Comfort Vs Challenge

Do you want comfort or do you take on a Challenge? Accept a Challenge, then build something meaningful!

Sitting across from me in my office was a young professional with two degrees, able to speak three languages fluently. This person, who we’ll call Sarah, was working a very difficult job, which involved cold calling and face-to-face sales presentations that very few people exceed at. Sarah had other job offers on the table, yet chose to accept the most challenging. It was outside of her degrees, any experience she had, and it could even be classified as the polar opposite of who she was at the time.  When I asked her why she chose the job to begin with, she said, “I wanted to get out of my comfort zone!”

I think comfort is one of the most dangerous traps we fall into, especially as Americans. We accept the day to day and it consumes many of us. We use our phones more than our hands, we drive down the road instead of taking a walk, and we FaceTime instead of visiting — The easier route often wins in our culture, but it creates more obstacles for happiness. Many adults feel stuck — And they are looking for a major challenge.

The title of this is “Accept a Challenge, then build something meaningful.” The key word is meaningful. If you’re with a friend and accept a challenge to chug a gallon of milk, what are you accomplishing? First, you may end with severe stomach pain! Second, if you do succeed, what was the point? The definition of meaningful is “Having a serious, important, or useful quality or purpose.” Without a meaning, the journey of life itself lacks substantially.

Discover the Challenge

I want you to write down a few things you want to do –

Here are a few examples: Run a 5k. Start a charity or a new company. Make more friends. Rebuild a relationship. Finish School. Take a specialized class. Take a trip. Volunteer to help build a house despite no experience. Make as short or long of a list as you want. Realize — There are going to be a million reasons to say “I can’t do that,” but most of it just means getting out of our comfort zone.

WHO and HOW does it impact YOU and OTHERS?

Asking both who it will impact is important or how it can impact someone is important. If it is a personal development, that is awesome! For Sarah, the job she chose was based around finding a way to overcome people’s objections and getting in front of them. You wouldn’t have known she used to be afraid of people, as Sarah had developed such confidence by “practicing” daily at her job. Her personal development has led to her building confidence in others. She would tell you “I initially impacted MYSELF by accepting a challenge. As I developed, I impacted many others who had the same struggles I once had.”

Setting Goals and Timelines:

You’re going to need some goals or timelines. If your goal is to run a 5k, you can try to run it cold turkey, but I suggest you find a program that helps develop timelines (Google Couch-to-5K). If you want to meet five new people, don’t cram it into one night- Set a goal of meeting one person per week or per month (Megan from 52cups met with one person a week for an entire year as part of her challenge).

Develop accountability!

When Sarah met her supervisor for the first time, she knew that he could hold her accountable to her goals. Notice I said HER goals – Not a companies, not a parent or spouse — They have to be YOUR goals. Sarah wanted to learn how to approach people, develop relationships for short and long term objectives, and close the sales, and after she set goals and timelines, she met with her supervisor for him to be able to hold her accountable.

You’re invited to JOIN our Challenge!

Adam, Chris, and I joined together for a Challenge to improve lives in Laos. When we asked oursevles “WHO” our challenge will impact it was clear we would change lives in Laos — However, we also knew it would change ourselves and our families in such a positive way. We set goals and timelines, at times adjusting them to be more realistic or more of a challenge, but keeping the goals visually in front of us! And the accountability? We are accountable to each other, as well as the people of Laos — But also to YOU. We give monthly updates so YOU, as someone who is apart of our amazing journey, can be there if Mission Arabica seems to slow down or change directions.

Too often comfort becomes the norm. Mission Arabica is a Challenge. It’s a challenge to impact lives. I hope you have chosen a challenge already– Something to ignite passion inside of you! But if you haven’t chosen a challenge by now- If you feel comfortable where you are – Join us – We love having emails and phone calls come in asking where we need help. I can assure you if you join with us, you’ll find meaning in the Mission.