Reinvention is a word filled with intrigue, promising transformation and growth. However, if you’ve ever attempted to reinvent yourself in your career, business, or personal life, you know it’s more challenging than it seems. True reinvention demands not just tolerating discomfort by actively disrupting your comfort zone.
Comfort zones may give you some comfort now, but they rob you of comfort later. It’s a false comfort, because it’s keeping you successful now at the expense of significance later. While stepping into discomfort is easier said than done, it serves as a compass guiding us toward growth. In today’s VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world, making reinvention your superpower is essential for growth and evolution.
Reinvention Calls for Discomfort
Sometimes discomfort just comes at us and it’s not our choice. It could be something negative, like losing a job. Or it could even be positive, like getting a promotion into a role we don’t yet feel ready for. Both can be uncomfortable, and what we do with that discomfort will determine how successful we are. But to reinvent, we also have to disrupt our current level of comfort. That’s harder. We have to choose discomfort, and we have to will ourselves to act while we’re still comfortable. Consider getting out of bed in the morning. If a loud noise abruptly wakes you, you might jump out of bed in a panic. Discomfort came for you, you reacted, you’re out of bed.
But if your alarm goes off, and you’re cozy and warm under the covers, getting out of bed into the cold room takes a willful act of disrupting your current comfort.
Likewise, if you lose your job, discomfort has come for you. It’s there, you have to react. If you’re in a comfortable job but long for something else, it’s hard to leave that comfort for the unknown. This is when you are stuck in career quicksand.
Mark Manson, author of numerous bestselling life advice books, said:
“Fear doesn’t control us by dominating our emotions. It controls us by quietly convincing us that our comfort is more important than happiness. The only real risk is taking no risks. The only real failure is having no failures. The only real pain is the avoidance of pain.”
But I want to take this challenge even further. Yes, you need to tolerate discomfort. Yes, you need to embrace discomfort. But also, you need to chase it.
Disrupting Your Comfort Zone for Progress
Researchers from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business conducted a series of studies to explore this question: What if instead of tolerating discomfort and feeling awkward or uncomfortable, people actively sought it out? Their hypothesis was that we could use discomfort as a cue that we’re making progress when it comes to personal growth. Instead of seeing discomfort as a signal to stop, we would see it as a sign of progress toward our goal, and we’d be motivated to continue. (They included the necessary caveats that there are times when discomfort shouldn’t be ignored, such as when it might indicate physical injury or actual danger.)
Picture a time in your life when you started something new like a leadership position, a creative pursuit, or even a fitness challenge. Those initial feelings of uncertainty and awkwardness? They were signals of growth. And as you leaned in, those feelings gave way to mastery.
The same applies to reinvention. Growth rarely announces itself with ease. It arrives in moments of doubt, moments when you feel like you’re swimming against the tide. But that resistance is where reinvention thrives.
The pursuit of reinvention is unwieldy without a plan. Here are 5 simple actions to disrupt your comfort zone that can invite discomfort into your life for meaningful growth.
1. Acknowledge What Holds You Back
Take a moment of introspection. Look deep from within. What aspects of life feel too comfortable, too stable? Maybe your career path hasn’t changed in years, or perhaps your business thrives on routines you’ve perfected but no longer excite you.
What’s familiar but no longer fulfilling? Recognizing these patterns is the first step.
2. Reframe Your View of Discomfort
Rather than viewing the act of discomfort as something negative, see it as a guide. Whenever you feel resistance or unease, remind yourself this could be a sign you’re entering fertile ground for reinvention.
You might even create a mantra to reinforce this perspective, like, “Discomfort means I’m growing.” Words that matter shape how we perceive the challenge.
3. Take Small, Brave Steps
Stepping too far outside your comfort zone all at once can feel paralyzing. Instead, start small. Maybe it’s signing up for a class in a skill you’ve been intrigued by but never pursued. Maybe it’s signing up for a volunteering opportunity at work that takes you outside of your expertise.
Courage isn’t about massive leaps. It’s about consistent, incremental steps outside the familiar.
4. Normalize Discomfort Through Stories of Reinvention
One of the best ways to normalize discomfort is to learn from those who’ve walked this path before you.
Consider Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, whose reinvention began when she embraced the discomfort of pitching her idea to skeptical manufacturers—again and again and again. Or the coffee giant, Starbucks, that pivoted in the face of economic pressure by reinventing its customer experience to include coffee “theater.”
These stories show us that discomfort isn’t a sign to quit; it’s an invitation to push forward.
5. Reflect Throughout Your Journey
Regularly pause and reflect on your progress. What is the discomfort teaching you? Where are you noticing growth? By journaling or simply taking quiet moments to think, you can chart how far you’ve come—and how far you still want to go.
Reinvention Readiness Lies in the Pursuit of Discomfort
Reinvention is by no means linear, but it is extremely rewarding. By leaning into discomfort and viewing it as a marker of growth, we find new opportunities waiting on the other side. Whether you’re launching a business, pivoting mid-career, or innovating within your current role, the pursuit of discomfort is not something to fear, it’s something to seek.
Remember, every successful reinvention starts with that first shaky, uncertain step. The question is, will you take it?
If you’re ready to begin transforming your comfort zone into a growth zone, consider starting today. With your eyes fixed on the horizon and the courage to paddle through resistance, there’s no telling what version of yourself you’ll discover.