Comfort, inertia, and the positive side of pain

Are you too comfortable?

Sounds like a silly question, doesn't it? But it's not. There's a lot of talk about what is getting in the way of people pursuing their passions (fear, financial obligations, etc.). But one enormous obstacle that I seldom see mentioned is comfort.

When you're miserable in your career, there's a fire under you to make something happen. Pain is motivation. On the other hand when you feel no inspiration in your career, but the inertia of the familiar has you in its clutches, it's much harder to break out of that rut.

I hear it all the time when people talk about a career path that does nothing to ignite them, but that isn't so bad that they're desperate for a change. They describe their job, saying, "It's OK" (generally said with the vocal equivalent of a shrug). It might be boring, uninspiring, and slowly leeching the life out of them, but it's "good enough."

But when I ask the question, "Do you want to see yourself ten years out on this same path?" the answer is inevitably, "No!"

The career that seems "not so bad" today suddenly comes into perspective when it becomes the foundation on which the future will be built.

How about you? Is the comfort of inertia keeping you from making the changes you need to make so that you won't look back with regret ten years from now?

Curt Rosengren
Passion Catalyst ^SM