Today I’d like to share with you this brilliantly simple personal development idea: making yourself comfortable.
I would like to talk about two meanings I personally have for this saying in a personal development context.
Productivity
Feeling comfortable about doing something is definitely one of the key factors shaping up the success of each task of yours. Of course, other factors include having enough knowledge to do the task, being in a right mood and physically capable of producing the necessary result and being motivated enough to get started, but if you start analyzing each of these factors, you can really see how most of them can be easily brought under the definition of being comfortable.
Make yourself comfortable - in productivity it means being in the right place at the right time, having enough time and enough motivation, being sure in the positive outcome and having knowledge to back your ambitions up.
If you feel comfortable about doing something, your productivity will only benefit. If you are comfortable with the challenge, you may not even have enough knowledge to tackle it just yet, but feeling comfortable will support you and motivate you when you most need it.
As you can see, with productivity, making yourself comfortable is an essential step. Without feeling comfortable, you will not be able to reach your productivity potential.
Personal development
Another meaning for making yourself comfortable I have is less obvious. In personal development, one of the major areas of your focus is a constant improvement. Many things you can learn and improve by reading additional materials in books or magazines, asking someone for a good friendly advice, or simply getting out there and interacting with all the people you meet on your way.
But it is also widely known, than in many cases the self-growth isn’t about some knowledge or skill which you can obtain by using a direct approach, but rather a pearl of wisdom you may only acquire by doing or not doing other things.
For example, take something work-related. Let’s say, a project management. Yes, there are many wonderful books on the topic, which teach you useful techniques and planning strategies, but any seasoned project manager will tell you that you can read all the books you want and still not be a good project manager, unless and until you start managing some real projects.
This is a perfect example of what I’m trying to say - your project management skills will grow not from reading books and attending lectures on this subject, but by managing things - starting with single tasks and progressing onto bigger projects.
Take another example: a skill of dealing with stressful situations. Again, reading books on this subject will be of some help, as you will probably be more conscious of your feelings next time you’re stressed about something. But this will only be part of the learning curve. If you start getting stressed about everything on purpose, such a direct approach will not make you a master in dealing with stress.
Why? Because you cannot obtain this experience directly. Instead, you have to make sure you use opportunities which come your way to minimize the stress for both yourself and people around you, and to make note of every personal success of yours in this matter.
Only by seeing yourself handling stressful situations progressively easier and more successful, will you finally obtain a feeling of being comfortable enough dealing with any kind of stress.
Personal development is about making yourself comfortable
Making yourself comfortable in personal development is a constant reminder for me.
It’s a guiding star, which shows me how I should improve myself in each of the areas of interest. And the reason I told you earlier that the meaning of making yourself comfortable in personal development is not very obvious is this: your personal development is about making yourself comfortable, not staying comfortable.
As soon as you’ve made yourself comfortable in anything, it is a sign to move on. It is a definite confirmation that you’ve raised above the previously arranged goals, and that you have to set new ones, where you will feel unsure and uncomfortable at start, and concentrate on making yourself comfortable yet again, thus improving the necessary aspects of your personality.
Does this make sense to you? Making yourself comfortable means taking one small step after another, moving towards a clearly defined goal. The more you work on this goal, the more comfortable you’re going to feel. But the idea of personal development is to always remember that there is no end to your self-growth.
If you were not sure about doing something, and you had concentrated on making yourself comfortable, you would eventually end up with greatly improved skills, newly obtained experience and wisdom, and an urge to find the next step in the same direction, which you’re not comfortable with.
The success formula
That’s it for today. The only thing left is to give you this simple “Make Yourself Comfortable” success formula.
- Concentrate on this step towards your next goal
- Work towards it till it feels natural and comfortable
- Repeat the same process starting with step 1.
Of course, it is stating something obvious, but like any fundamental knowledge in any science, it is no revelation - it is just a summarizing interpretation of the experience and knowledge you already have.
译文:
让自己舒服起来
让自己舒服起来
今天我想和大家一块分享这个明智而简单的个人发展理念:让自己舒服起来.
从个人发展角度而言,我认为这样做有两种意义,下面我将逐一讨论.
对提高工作效率的意义
怀着舒服的心情做事,是促使你顺利完成各项任务的关键因素之一.当然,其它因素也包括:与事情相关的一定的背景知识, 稳定的情绪状态,能否达到预期效果所必备的身体条件,要有足够的动力开个头等等.但倘若对这些因素逐一分析,你就会真正地发现它们大多都极其容易受心情舒适状况的左右.
让自己舒服起来,从工作效率角度而言,它意味着,在适当的时间,适当的地点,有足够的时间和动力,坚信积极的回报,拥有支持雄心抱负的底气.
做事心情舒适,就有利于提高你的工作效率.如果面对挑战,心亦能舒适,即使你没有足够的底气来迎接它,但当你最需要应付它的时候,舒适的心情却能支持你,激励你.
从工作效率角度,即可明白,让自己舒服起来是多么关键的一步.心若不适,工作潜能何以激发?
对个人发展的意义
让自己舒服起来,我觉得它的另一种意义不是特别明显.个人发展中,你所关注的主要方面之一就是要不断地提高自我.额外地阅读书籍或杂志资料,向人咨询佳议妙策,或直接过去和道上的人们交流,通过这些,你都可以学到好多东西,将许多事情做的更好.
但是也都知道,很多情况下,个人发展并不是通过直接的方式就可以获得的知识和技能,而是一种只有通过身体力行才可以获得的智慧精华.
姑且以与工作有关的事例为证,比方说,项目管理. 的确,关于这个话题有好多上乘的书籍都可以教你一些有用的技巧和管理策略,然而没有一位资深的项目经理会告诉你只要读破所有你想读的书,你就能成为一名出色的项目管理者,除非哪一天你躬身去管理某些项目了.
我借助这个绝好的事例旨在说明项目管理技能的提高并不在于你看了多少关于这方面的书,参加过多少次关于这方面的讲座,而在于管理事物---开始管理单个的简单任务,然后慢慢地管理较大的项目.
再比如,处理工作压力的技能.阅读关于这方面的书籍是有些用途,因为下次当某些事请再让你感到有压力时,你可能会更有意识地控制自己的情绪.但知识曲线的作用也只能发挥至此.你若对一切事物都有意地感到有压力,这时,这种直接的解除压力的方式就不可能让你再充当压力的征服者了.
为什么?因为你不能再直接地获取这种经验,反而,你必须确保你能够利用属于你的所有机会为你自己也为你周围的人将压力减到最小,并记录你在这方面所取得的每次进步.
只有不断地见证自己更容易更顺利地解决压力问题,你才会最终产生舒适的感觉,才足以消灭任何种类的压力.
个人发展旨在让你舒适起来
让自己在个人发展过程中舒服起来,一直是我留给自己的一种暗示.它如同一盏指路明灯,告诉我在每次利益尤关的方方面面,怎样提高自我.我刚才所说在个人发展中让自己舒服起来的意义不是特别明显,根源就在于个人发展就是要让你舒服起来而不是让你舒服下去
一旦某件事让你舒服起来了,暗示也就来了:你得继续前进. 这是可靠的证据,说明你已经超越了原先设定的目标,你应该设定新的目标.为了新目标,你也许起初感到茫然,觉得不舒服,但还是要努力让自己再次舒服起来,这样,你个人发展的方方面面才会得到提高.
觉得这有道理吗?让自己舒服起来就意味着一小步紧接着一小步地移向明确设定的目标.你对目标投入的精力越多,你就越会感到舒适.其实,个人发展的理念就是要牢记个人发展永无止境.
如果你对某些事感到无所适从,你也努力尝试让自己舒服起来,这样坚持做了,你各方面的技能最终都会突飞猛进,新的经验和学识也会增加,踏向目标下一步的动力也会油然而生(当然哪一步目标一开始就不会让你感到舒服).
成功的步骤
以上就是今天的内容,剩下的就是要归纳一下这个简单的让自己舒服起来的成功步骤了.
1,将精力集中在迈向下一目标的第一步.
2,向目标进发,直至觉得自然舒适为止.
3,从步骤1开始,重复整个过程.
但这只是在说明一些显而易见的事情,如同任何科学的基本知识一样,这并非灵丹妙药,它只是对你已有经验和知识的一种总结性的阐释而已.