2 Things to Master: Discomfort and Uncertainty

When alone, we tend to think of ourselves and our consciousness rises. At some point in time, inevitably, we are tempted to ask ourselves about what could happen in the future and what we could do about it.

Sometimes we are often caught with situations when we are compelled to act accordingly without knowing what to do. And playing safe or doing nothing seems to be the best thing to do. Unfortunately, not.

Unless we break out in our comfort zone, nothing seems worthwhile. We always hear about it. And it's always true. It always takes courage and guts to do something extraordinary. There is nothing worth achieving comes easy without doing something. There is no "something for nothing".

It is my goal to reach my peak potential or at least utilize 90% of my skills and talents what God has endowed me. Else I would rut full of regrets not using my full capacity. Inefficient human being - has impeccable skills and potential yet unused. I don't want to be one.

Upon introspection, I found out a bunch of things to develop for me to reach my peak potential. On a deeper thought, I came up with a simplified goal and that there are 2 things to master: Discomfort and Uncertainty.

Individuals who outshine other people whether in business, show business or sports all have one thing in common: they are masters of handling discomfort and uncertainty.

1st Thing to Master - Discomfort

What is discomfort? It is an emotion/feeling where a person feels dull, uneasy or awkward towards a situation or a stimuli. Some of the examples are men wearing 5 inches heels, talking to strangers, fear of heights, managing people with different values, starting a business and so on. Discomfort comes either physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually.

The reason why you need to be a master of discomfort is because all great things in life don't come easily. Thomas Edison failed more than a thousand experiments before he successfully invented the light bulb.

If one experiment lasts 2 hours, that translates to more than 2,000 hours of failed experiments. The discomfort - failure. Edison had mastered the discomfort of having failed many times. His determination and patience are great enough than failure.

Me however, managed the discomfort of being sleep-derived when I was in college. I came home 11:00 PM every night and studied until 12:00 AM for assignments and lessons. And it paid off. That laurel would have been not possible had I complained and escaped the discomfort of sleeping late and drowsy in school.

2nd Thing to Master - Uncertainty

Nobody knows the future yet we dread about it. Or is the future really important to be planned? No one should be afraid of the future. It will come, inevitably, and we just have to prepare. 

Uncertainty is the state of being unclear, vague or indefinite of what will happen or take place to an action or stimuli. In other words it means "no idea of what will happen."

One of the greatest fears, perhaps, is the fear of the unknown. It's like diving on the cliff without knowing the depth of the water. The uncertainty of what will happen cripples us to decide - to go or not to go, because we often think for the worst, not for the good. Thus, it all lies to mind conditioning. 

Why master uncertainty? Opportunities come once in a while. The fear of uncertainty causes indecision and paralysis, which leads to inaction. If humans always bind to uncertainty, there would have been no Apple, Facebook and Twitter.

To master uncertainty, we must have an optimistic mind and be bold enough to face the consequences of our decisions (and actions) whether good or bad.