# Chapter 8

Coasting and comfort zones. Somewhere we have gotten the idea, that we want to live in this space, in this zone. This reminds me of my lazy hazy days in the 70’s when life was mostly about doing as little as possible. Perhaps the “ideal life” needle got stuck there, or perhaps those days were a great deal more fun and satisfying than my memories can bring up and subconsciously my brain has decided those were the “Happy Days” of my life and wants me to return there? I don’t know where coasting and comfort zone desires come from, likely just plain old laziness on my part, but I do know for certain that they aren’t nearly as satisfying as advertised.

The challenging and the difficult and the amazing and the world changing and thought-provoking and the demanding and the strenuous and the just plain hard stuff in life and work can bring a sense of accomplishment that is way way more pleasing than coasting and comfort zones can ever be. Having said that, I want to become so accomplished that the hardest things appear and seem easy to me. This is not a move toward coasting and comfort zones, but rather a move toward big competence and astonishing skills. Notice the words “appear” and “seem” in the previous sentence. Yet there is nothing negative about making the complex simple, and deconstructing the complicated and making it easier. In fact those two practices are extremely valuable and difficult in their own rights.

We all need to move outside our comfort zones to really feel alive. Why not today? And then tomorrow? And then the next day?