Is it true: “No Pain, No Gain?”

No Pain, No Gain. Is this bit of wisdom just a fitness myth and downright bad advice? A lot of people seem to think so, yet there is another perspective you may want to think about. Success is all about stepping outside of your comfort zone and that means embracing a little pain along the way.

Every skier has a comfort zone whether you are a beginner or one of the world’s elite. For the beginner it may be the bunny slope for the elite it may be the most radical line down a mountain. If you leave the mountains and skiing for a year or two, you won’t be comfortable on slopes you used think of as routine.  It will take some time to reach your previous levels of comfort and from where you can again begin to expand your comfort zone.

To reach higher levels you must approach both your personal and business life as an endeavour in constant growth. The ultimate truth is, you are either moving forward or moving backward; growing or dying. There’s no such thing as comfortably maintaining. To grow, you must step above past achievements; beyond your perceived boundaries and limits. That means stepping out of the known, into the unknown; out of the familiar and into the unfamiliar; out of the comfortable into the uncomfortable. You must get out of your comfort zone.

Still, many people won’t leave their comfort zones. They won’t do it in business, they won’t do it in their personal lives. Why? The answer is simple. Because it hurts! By definition, what’s it like outside the comfort zone? It’s UN-COMFORTABLE, right? Change is uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s physically painful, but it’s always mentally and emotionally painful, in the form of discipline, sacrifice, uncertainty and fear.

The maxim, “no pain no gain” gets knocked all the time as if it were bad advice. The fact of life is that you don’t grow unless you are constantly stepping outside the comfort zone, and outside the comfort zone is discomfort and pain. When you get to the edge of your comfort zone you are best served by pushing through it and beyond. If on the other hand you begin to retreat away from the edge your comfort zone will began to shrink. Instead of avoiding that discomfort, learn to embrace it as a necessary precursor to growth.

Where is your comfort zone in your business?  Where do you need to go beyond your current boundaries to make your business grow?  Your business is like a plant; it is either growing or dying!