{"id":23733,"date":"2013-05-20T10:45:43","date_gmt":"2013-05-20T14:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=23733"},"modified":"2013-05-27T13:06:06","modified_gmt":"2013-05-27T17:06:06","slug":"comfort-is-your-nemesis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=23733","title":{"rendered":"Comfort is Your Nemesis"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Sean O\u2019Brien, Head Editor, INALJ Colorado<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Comfort is Your Nemesis<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"15188252622411237047<\/a>I was watching a Star Trek movie the other day.<\/p>\n

Not the new one, with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, but an older one, with Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes, and even Tom Hardy back when he weighed less than I do.\u00a0 Captain Picard was lounging around at his desk, musing aloud whether or not the gentleman with the shiny purple jumpsuit and the $30 World of Warcraft knife was the film\u2019s protagonist.\u00a0 The conversation turned to Picard\u2019s youth, and the Captain\u2019s lip curled up into a snarl.\u00a0 \u201c(I) was a damn fool,\u201d he spat.\u00a0 \u201cSelfish.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmbitious.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point I sat up, puzzled.\u00a0 Ambitious?\u00a0 Is that such a great sin<\/b>, to be piled in with selfishness, with being a fool?\u00a0 Certainly Picard has no need for ambition; he already has everything he wants. \u00a0He spends all his time in his intergalactic party bus, tearing up the Universe with all of his friends.\u00a0 He has a room where he can live out any of his favorite literary adventures. \u00a0He has a machine that can generate anything he can think to ask for.\u00a0 Like a magic lamp, all he has to do is speak the words.\u00a0 \u201cComputer!\u00a0 Earl Grey, hot.\u00a0 Music, Chopin.\u00a0 Career, fulfilling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rest of us on Earth don\u2019t have such luxuries,\u201d I thought.\u00a0 \u201cSo of course we\u2019re ambitious.\u201d\u00a0 And that\u2019s when it hit me; the problem isn\u2019t necessarily that Picard has all of these futuristic toys, that he has a life free from dental bills and traffic accidents and identity theft.\u00a0 The problem is that he is comfortable<\/i>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now before I get off track, let me clarify by saying that I don\u2019t think he should sell his worldly goods and wander the earth, or that anyone else should, unless they feel truly compelled to.\u00a0 It is a great blessing to have a bed to sleep in, enough to eat, and people that care about you.\u00a0 The problematic comfort I am talking about is the kind that keeps you from growing.\u00a0 The kind where a person doesn\u2019t like their job, but hey!\u00a0 It\u2019s better than having no job!\u00a0 Maybe if I just stick it out, things will be okay.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to take on more projects at work; I might not be that helpful.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m too old to take more classes; everyone will wonder why I\u2019m there.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m too shy to make new friends, too out of shape to go to the gym, too slow to learn something new.\u201d\u00a0 Comfort is the nagging voice in the back of your head that says \u201cStay put.\u00a0 It\u2019s safer here.\u201d<\/p>\n

What that voice wants you to forget is that when we are uncomfortable is where all of our growth happens. <\/b>\u00a0It\u2019s the butterflies when we go in for an interview.\u00a0 It\u2019s the ache in our legs after a long run.\u00a0 It\u2019s the brief confusion as we learn a new skill.\u00a0 Discomfort generates action, which is otherwise known as ambition.<\/p>\n

So get out there, away from your comfort zone.\u00a0 Ask your boss for new responsibilities at work.\u00a0 Learn a new skill.\u00a0 Try a new hobby.\u00a0 Talk to new people.\u00a0 Apply for a job that you don\u2019t think you\u2019re fully qualified for.<\/b>\u00a0 Start a project where you don\u2019t completely know what you\u2019re doing.\u00a0 The worst that can happen is that you\u2019ll be where you\u2019re at now, but with new knowledge and experience in tow.\u00a0 Every now and then, stop being comfortable.\u00a0 Be ambitious.\u00a0 You might be glad you did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Sean O\u2019Brien, Head Editor, INALJ Colorado Comfort is Your Nemesis I was watching a Star Trek movie the other day. Not the new one, with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, but an older one, with Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes, and even Tom Hardy back when he weighed less than I do.\u00a0 Captain Picard…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[4405,69,3592,4406,3630,3843,3844],"class_list":["post-23733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-ambition","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-comfort","tag-inalj-colorado","tag-outside-the-box","tag-sean-obrien"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-6aN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23733\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}