Question #2

Am I comfortable with being uncomfortable?

A few years ago I went through a rough period in my life when a relationship broke down, a business partnership collapsed and my mum was diagnosed with cancer. Whilst this was a difficult time for me, the dark clouds did carry a silver lining.

This difficult period gave me an opportunity to slow down. And for the first time ever I really got to reflect on my purpose and all the things I wanted to do in order to become a better person for myself, for my family and for the world!

After a period of self discovery that included reading, praying and attending lots of personal development seminars, I felt called to conquer the number one fear in the world – public speaking!

My first couple of speeches at my public speaking club were terrible! I was super nervous, incoherent and uninspiring. The learning curve was really steep for me and there were many occasions when the frustration made me want to give up on my dream.

Whenever you are working on a big goal there will come a point when you will need to step out of your comfort zone in order to move up to the next level. The trouble is, human beings are creatures of habit and your brain will play all kinds of tricks to stop you from trying something new or unfamiliar.

Think back to a time when you wanted to make a big change in your life. It could be getting a new job, travelling the world, or ending a relationship that was no longer working. You will probably recall feeling some level of resistance or fear about making those decisions.

The Oxford Dictionary defines resilience as “…able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.” Therefore to be resilient you need to be prepared to embrace change and willing to step out of your comfort zone.

In my case this meant that I had embrace a growth mindset – to deliver a bunch of bad speeches before I built up the confidence to deliver inspiring speeches – including my popular TED Talk that has impacted thousands of people across the globe!

Remember it’s always better to try something and not get it right the first time than living with the regret of never trying in the first place. 

#WinstonWisdom: Resilient people are willing to embrace change because they understand that all progress occurs outside the comfort zone @WinstonSpeaker Click To Tweet

Score yourself from 1 to 5, with 1 being “very comfortable with being uncomfortable” and 5 being “not comfortable at all”: Am I comfortable with being uncomfortable?

And now to the third question I ask myself whenever I need to check my resilience…

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