Embrace the Suck: How Discomfort Leads to Growth

“Strength and growth only come through continuous effort and struggle.”-Napoleon Hill

“only come through”…

That means without struggle, discomfort, pain, there is no growth. And I couldn’t agree more.

Why must you struggle to grow? And how can you use this knowledge to your advantage? Keep Reading…

Prove It.

The Growth/Pain relationship is very clear when you look at exercise:

Cardio: intense cardio, forces your lungs to work harder to meet the increased oxygen demands (This is Uncomfortable). This stress stimulates adaptations that help your lungs work more effectively under stress (This is Growth).

Hypertrophy: Resistance training, creates small tears in your muscle fibers (This Is Uncomfortable); your body then repairs them larger and stronger so that the next time they are put under that stimulus, they are prepared (This Is Growth).

Cold Water : Cold water immersion shocks the system, causing rapid constriction of blood vessels, and an increased heart rate(This is Uncomfortable). The body adapts to these stressors, strengthening the immune system, improving circulation, and boosting overall resilience to the cold(This is Growth).

The common theme here is that by subjecting your body to stress and discomfort, it adapts and becomes stronger, better prepared for similar challenges in the future. This evolutionary trait, known as the ‘adaptive response,’ is present in all areas of life.

How About The Mind?

Mental growth follows the same rules: discomfort leads to growth.

Your brain becomes more neuroplastic when it is exposed to discomfort, challenging situations, or novelty.

Which means it has an enhanced ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections in response to learning, experience, and environmental changes.

This heightened neuroplasticity allows for better adaptation and learning potential.

This is why its easier to learn a language when you’re immersed in the culture.

Why you learn most about business when you actually start a business.

Why people feel they learn most about themselves during there “darkest times”.

Science!

The structure in our brain called the Anterior Midcingulate Cortex (aMCC) is mostly responsible for our decision-making and willpower.

New research shows that the aMCC literally grows in size when people engage in activities they don’t want to do.

Studies show this area is smaller in obese individuals but increases in size when they diet. It’s larger in athletes and grows significantly in those who regularly challenge themselves.

This means that willpower is not inherent, but is built. It also exposes exactly how to build it… DO HARD SH*T.

An important caveat is that the growth isn’t about adding more work, but about doing work that you find particularly challenging, and uncomfortable.

Dopamine has a very similar relationship to discomfort as the aMCC and is very useful to understand. Take a look at this post to understand dopamine and how to leverage it.

Seeking Discomfort

Seeking discomfort means deliberately seeking things that you’re afraid of, things you’ve never done, things that take effort, things that are HARD!

When you put yourself in unfamiliar environments, when you have difficult conversations, when you practice a skill you are deficient at, it is uncomfortable… exactly where growth happens.

Person who seeks comfort:

8AM: Wake up and take a hot shower

9AM: On the way to work grab Taco Bell breakfast + a large iced coffee pumped with enough sugar to kill an infant

2PM: More fast food for lunch

5PM: Get home after a terrible day of work cause no one respects you and you feel terrible because of what you put in your body

6PM: Watch other people live their dream lives (Sports/Reality TV) over some pizza and beer.

12PM: Fall asleep on the couch, wake up the next morning miserable

Person who seeks discomfort (extreme example):

6 AM: Wake up and go on a 5 mile run

6:45: Take a freezing cold shower

7:00: Stretch and Meditate

7:30: Focused work on your passion

9:00:Go to work

2:00:First meal of the day(healthiest meal you could possibly think of)

5:00: Get home from work and go to MMA

7:00: Dinner with your family

9:00: Screens off, read and journal before bed

10:00: Lights out

The Stronger the Hero, The Bigger the Dragon

If your life looks anything like the first schedule, you will not likely be able to jump to the second schedule immediately.

However, you can improve, and you can improve fast.

If your willpower is low, then it will take more mental effort to exercise than someone with high willpower. But that mental effort is exactly what’s making you stronger.

As you embrace discomfort, your willpower (aMCC) grows. As your aMCC grows, you will be more willing to embrace discomfort, creating a positive feedback loop.

Positive feedback loop

A positive feedback loop is a process where the output of a system enhances or amplifies the initial stimulus, leading to an increase in the intensity of the response. This loop continues to reinforce itself, creating a cycle of continuous amplification.

This is why there are people like David Goggins, who In 2005, during his first ultra-marathon, broke all the small bones in his feet and developed stress fractures in his legs.

Despite these injuries and experiencing extreme pain, including peeing blood due to kidney issues, he continued the race. He wrapped his ankles in compression tape to manage the pain and relied on mental strategies like visualization and self-talk to push through the last 30 miles, ultimately completing the race​.

As you can see from the photo below, Goggins wasn’t born with discipline. In his own words, he built it over “Years and decades of suffering.”

“You have to build calluses on your brain just like how you build calluses on your hands. Callus your mind through pain and suffering.”- Goggins

WhEn DO yOU eNjOY lIfE?

If you are a Hedonist; a person who believes that the pursuit of pleasure is the most important thing in life.

Than this wont resonate with you.

Most of you can probably remember a time in your life when you were most disciplined and would probably agree with me when I say: that is real pleasure, real satisfaction, real fulfillment.

Part of discipline, along with embracing discomfort. Is finding time to feed your mind, body, and soul with relationships, nature, and relaxation.

This rejuvenation would ideally still be in service of your higher desires.

“Self-discipline is when your highest desires rule your lesser desires” -David Deida (I love this definition)

To live a life of purpose, you have to continually find what is most important to you in life, and align your actions with that. In which, there is likely to be a lot of discomfort.

We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”― Jim Rohn

What I Want You to Take Away

1. Discipline is built and lost through repetition
   

2. If your lungs burn when running…GOOD, it means your growing, If your muscles burn when lifting…GOOD, it means you growing

   
   

   If you’re practicing a skill you suck at…GOOD, it means your growing

   
   

   If it sucks it means you are growing, “EMBRACE THE SUCK”

   
   

   Use this framework to your advantage!
   

3. Doing uncomfortable things that move you towards your goals → Improved Willpower → Do even more uncomfortable things that move you even closer to your goals→ Improved Willpower… positive feedback loop.
   

4. Exercise is always available…use It: “You can’t change the mind with the mind. You have to change it with the body first”- Andrew Huberman
   

“Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.”– Jerzy Gregorek