Stealing hours from comfort is an excellent analogy. Thanks Derek!

"Steal from comfort. Steal from fear." is now written on my white board. Thank you for the inspiration.

Thank you for directing me here from your last email. Worthwhile post which requires further thought.

Love it! Simple and to the point. But there are so many underlying things behind this simple post.
I've been there as well, putting in the hours, choosing where to spend my attention (love the "Fuck yes or no post!" related to this btw). It's always a struggle. There will be sacrifices, some will hurt perhaps. But it's about what motivates you and what your value are at that point in life.
And I still am struggling to always choose where to focus my attention, so that I can now spend most of my working hours enjoying what I do and feeling fulfilled. And even when you get to this stage you need to pause and think about it - you're there, you've been there throughout this whole journey, with both good and bad. So keep at it.

Thank you for the reminder that teeters ever so evenly between friendly and paradigm shattering.

Yes! So true! Growth happens when you leave comfort behind and actually do the work.

Amazing! Polite, to-the-point, kick up the backside! Love it

Your articles about getting shit DONE and the creative process are the best. Ideas are easy. Half-finishing stuff is the norm. Getting through the last 10% to DONE is a mutherf*cker. Almost no one does.

Brent at # 9 notes that most people don't get the last 10% done. My remedy for that is that I have a policy of being utterly reliable to others, and mostly to myself(in secret) too: I have to do all 100% if I say I am doing it.

Equally important is that I don't tell anyone my project is almost done, not when there is 10% left. No sir. I only tell people, or myself, when it is 100% done.

Not until I have produced my simple pretty egg do I cackle like a hen.

Resistance has its strongest in power when everything is extremely easy, known, and predictable.
That's what i do feel NOW!!!

Two days ago I said to my friend "This phase is like the last chapter in a book. WTF Resistance is kicking my but every morning... and I loose.
It's extremely hard for me to move my body is not because the thing is actually hard, but because it's too easy to do. Money is like garbages, everything is known, everything is mother f*cker predictable.
But, I would win at last. I know it.
It's better for me doing nothing now, than doing something else that comforts me... it's a fake comfort.
I would hate me every morning...
Shouting myself What a JERK i am!"

I realized something funny.
When the thing is hard, or quite hard, it's easy to make a priciple to move my body to start working.
But when the thing is extremely easy, known, and predictable... it becomes extremely hard to move.
It's counterintuitive... at least for me, maybe because this is the first time I have this kind feeling.
Might obvious for others... i don't know.

This is a thank you from my book... from the future.

Especially salient advice for working parents who have a full-time job and want to raise kids well AND are also exploring ways to find their true calling.

There's a great line from the movie Moneyball where Billy Beane implores his staff to think differently. "We are card counters at the blackjack table and we're going to turn the tables on the casino". I think stealing time from comfort is a similar idea, especially given that card counters need to play A LOT of hands to see any significant profit.

Do the right things, and over the long run you'll achieve your goal.

I think that this is not accurate.
You can't steal the time from comfort.
You NEED comfort to decompress and rest.
There's science that says when you're rested you perform better.

You have the MAKE THE TIME from other areas of your life.

Automate your bill pay, arrange errands so your driving is efficient, shop online instead of at a store, order groceries on Prime Now, hire a maid to clean up, live close to your job so no commute....etc etc
A bunch of minor efficiencies will accumulate.

In this complex world your life is eaten up via death by 1000 cuts you have to not only trim the fat from your budget but you have to trim the fat from your time.

You have to make your life ruthlessly efficient so you have the time to do what you want to do.

That's my two cents.

Thank you for this article!

We are all unique with totally different DNA. This gives us different skills so why worry.

Exactly what I needed to read right now. Fulfilling a vision isn't easy. It's hard. It's work. If you're lucky enough to get into the zone while doing it, then you feel the magnetic pull of the finish line and things get easier. A little. :)

You can be the driver or the driven the hammer or the nail...as long as you do your best...

Now that is a a very sound observation. Almost everything that gives you deep satisfaction takes wrestling with it, fighting deep difficulty and work until you are exhausted.

I could make 100 songs in a day with no effort quickly but I'd hate them and wouldn't listen to them. The songs I love tend to required 100s of hours and tiring (as well as exhilarating) strings of effort. Your chess game that you're most proud of showing people was usually quite grueling, difficult, dangerous and took tons of work just to get to where you were capable of playing it.

Its true for a lot of things. Except comedy. Some of your best jokes just fly out of your head like spinning perfections. But then, you can only laugh at a joke so much.

Just what I needed to hear today. Thank you, Derek.

Love it! I am doing this now with following an autoimmune diet. I was miserable the first month or so as I adjusted. But worth it. Hoping to tackle some content creation next!

Exactly! And short-term pain is often necessary in order to gain sth of value over the mid- and long-term.

And, in reverse, those who avoid the pain now will reap it later.

A job that need to be done. Big or small, aligned or not to our life, is a job done. Hence, it is key to know why we are doing it at the first place :)

Stealing hours from comfort is an excellent analogy. Thanks Derek!
thx Hannes, you said it all
still, thx Derek

I some how makes a difference that you also feel this.

"it felt awful on the surface. I wasn’t shallow-happy about it. I wasn’t smiling. I was annoyed and fighting it inside,"

Thank you for sharing

Oh gosh... this post got me!
Thank you for being so honest and vulnerable with us!

"It takes many hours to make what you want to make. The hours don’t suddenly appear. You have to steal them from comfort. Whatever you were doing before was comfortable. This is not. This will be really uncomfortable."

Always felt bad and guilty and regretful over some things that "I COULD have done"and the "I SHOULD HAVE". Agh. What an awful waste of energy by the regretting.

And on that note I'll stop reading your lovely posts and tackle the course that I am supposed to be writing... Thank you!

Dam it, you are too right.Now I have to slap myself! Thank you.

yes, I've thought about things and ideas that I never did anything about, and someone else eventually made a fortune from them. However..........I was so successful in my career that none of that bothered me. More power to them, I say.

There alway pearls of wisdom from reading your work.
I’m taking that on Mastery , this one to do something I hate for a month. Thank you Derek !

Thank you for this simple and powerful reminder!

It makes me to think again and get rid of comfort zone . Thank you very much for this great article.

Spot on.
"Steal from comfort".
hope to live rest of my life by it

Succinct and universally true. Thanks

Thank you for the authentic powerful reminder!

Thanks for the reminder. Not just comfort. I "wasted". my day's plan on Sat by being with friends on zoom at a brunch party. It was my decision - but it took away the time from what I wanted to "make" - so not just comfort mongering, but also choices -time with family and friends has huge value, so does watching the. news, connecting with email friends and ideas, even time with a pet... but when we are driven by a goal, I guess we need to schedule not slide into all the other high value moments of living.

Thank you so much for the encouragement.

Brilliant! Just get up and find the time to do whatever it takes! Thanks, Derek☺

Nailed it! Love this. Super resonates. Thanks, Derek.

Hit me dead center.

I’ve been grappling with this theme for years.

Now that I feel like I’m running out of time to accomplish the creative tasks that swirl painfully within me, your message has wounded my pride and set me on fire.

Out of seemingly nowhere I’ve snapped out of a lethargy of which I was hardly aware, and into a new reality of self empowerment.

I thank you deeply.

Excellent advice. You have to steal it from comfort. Thank you.

Wow! This is such a good reminder.


Time to steal a lot more from comfort!

Great post. So relevant for me, my partner, and many more people I know. Thanks. Heila

Thank you Seth Godin for pointing me here. Needed to hear this today!

Thanks

Very insight - appreciate Seth Godin pointing me to your sight in his blog post today.

True and thought-provoking... enough to motivate me to take the action. Thank you!

I'm feeling exactly this way right now. I´m not comfortable because I am completely changing the focus of my work. I'm studying hard because I want to reach another level, get out of my comfort zone. I am afraid of not being able. I am fighting my own fears. I don't have time for anything, but I need to find it, after all, everyone has the same 24 hours a day. So it's all about time management and leaving the comfort zone. And set out to accomplish your goals. Sorry for the english mistakes, but I'm brazilian and I don't speak english so well.

Very true. Gracias.

Thanks to Seth for the link to this. It made me think..
aside from just taking from comforts like downtime, chilling with family and friends or watching a movie where else am I comfortable & stealing time from doing important work.
Then I thought comfort comes from habit. What is the habitual pattern of my work with which I am comfortable. How could I do stuff differently and save time. Do I have to do this work still? Should somebody else more skilled do it? Should it be done at all. Maybe technology can do it better. Who says this must be done like this?
There is comfort in even in what I consider to be productively spent time.

i found your post inspiring.

I got to you thru seth gobin.

Do you send these out like he does?

If so I'd like to subscribe

Thank you...Arnie Adler

Provoking. One minute and thirty-two seconds is all it took to shift my thoughts in the area of time management and productivity. Thank you for sharing.

Excellent. Thank you.

In Tai Chi Chuan, the ancient Chinese martial art, the masters agree, progress occurs when "eating bitter". In other words we learn when we come to the edge of the comfortable. One can only remain in that space for a time. Similarly, researchers have studied the listeners' engagement at jazz performances. Apparently, most people must be familiar with about 51% of the material to stay "with it."

Needed this right now. Wrote it on my whiteboard as well. "Steal from comfort"

thanks ...I am writing today and hopefully tomorrow...this is helpful

Good evening.

Thank you very much for the wake up call.

Comfort will have to repay the time I invested in it.

Just woke up and realised that tomorrow will always be tomorrow.

Execution must be the order of the day.

Thank you once more 🙏🏾

Wow. Eyes watering and gulping. I’m in the thick of this. I’m wondering if it will all be worth it. Do I have what it takes to keep going. Even scarier do I have what it takes to actually make this work. This was very powerful. Thanks to Seth Godin for sharing it. Thank you for writing it. 🙏🦋

Excellent point. At my company we have a saying, “ideas are easy, execution is a bitch.” I think this correlates and makes the point you actually have to do it. Ideas are worthless without execution.
Thanks. See /multiply for my thoughts on that. — Derek

Thank you for expressing this. It’s exactly where I am in this season of my life. I’m living in an abundance of comfort and ease which allows me to focus where I choose and when I choose, and yet when I see what others have created I do feel that sting of I could have done that followed by the idea that maybe I don’t need to now since it also feels I have an abundance of ideas and inspiration. So I’m cultivating the rhythm of discipline in my life. Thanks for reminding me I’m not unique in this regard.

Cool! Minimize distraction and ratchet up desire. Balance!

Best,
JZ

Derek, thank you so much for posting this "riff" as Seth Godin called it. He was right - it is very haunting and spot on in uncovering what keeps us stuck. Your willingness to share this is very generous! God bless you. :) Viki

Seize the day.
Seth thanks for re surfacing this — and Derek - prophetic!

Love it. Man's core drive:Seek pleasure and avoid pain. Sooo tough to leave the comfort zone. thankyou

Yep I was moved to change some of my habits during this extended lockdown period, and have been unfocused until just yesterday when I developed / amended a daily scorecard and now am on day 2 of forming this into a habit and coping with the discomforts associated. Totally encouraged by your revelations that all of us need to be 'here' to effect change.
Thank you
Francois

I got this link from Seth Godin. I'd love to be added to your blog list. I loved this post so much!

Thought provoking, plz add me to your email list.
Thx...

I can't say how many times in my life I've come to the above realization, but still to this day do the same thing. Darn, I should have done that, Darn I could have done that if I just did it when I thought it. And, on and on for to many years, now its, wish I had done that....but now I can't.
Art

So true 🙏🏼 I am in the process of transformation it’s a daily, hourly, monthly, annual practice. It’s really tough some days minutes hours however my inner self grows stronger with each repetition because that’s what I truly want and I can no longer be ignored.

Loved reading this it will be a new journal inspiration 🙏🏼

Yo Derek,

Sweet that Seth put your riff in his emailings.

Looking for those moments of satisfaction at the end of the distraction.

Jan

Spot on! Thank you! I made three repeated mistakes in my career, one of them is making assumptions. Too often I assume I can do things again or later, while I forget that time is the only non-renewable resource in life. Once invested it's gone And my own comfort is a massive time drain. Thanks for this great inspiration! Stefan

motivational

Truth!

Loved it!

This is brilliant! ...largely because it's undoubtedly and uncomplicatedly (made up word) true. It's so simple and obvious that I didn't want to write this comment. But I had to say something. This is the best I could come up with.

good stuff.

Found you via Seth Godin. This is at timely read/listen for me. Thank you for writing it.

You are soooo right. And it hurts too. For ex., I had this idea for a men's magazine called BRUH. It was man's lifestyle thing for black dudes...because we say "Bruh" alot. Now this wasn't going to be some money loser print job. No it was going to be completely online. That was 5 years ago. Today, I see a headline for Tyler Perry's new show...Guess what it's called. YEP! BRUH. Now, I'm a little hurt. More so because this is like the 3rd BIG idea I've sat on. Now don't get me wrong, I write down no less than 10 ideas a day (like Edison did), and I implement pretty regularly. But still. Know what I mean, Bruh? (I know you're not black, but you're cool with me.)

If you want to shine
Put in the time.

P.S. Your name came up twice in my world in the past 24 hours which led me to "Anything You Want." When the universe speaks, I follow. So, I bought your book.
I later realized your name crossed my path because of Seth Godin and Tim Ferris. It wasn't the universe speaking. Just good marketing.
Job well done.

Very true, It requires discipline and focus. Steal hours of comfort is the key. Especially having to stop the habit of checking social media during core working hours.

I love this concept! Stealing time away from fear and comfort is such an inspirational idea but what really resonates with me is the acknowledgment of the pain and fighting the change. I often feel like resistance and pain and the need to fight those things mean I’m not dedicated or worthy or able to do the things I want to do but knowing that it’s not the case is reassuring. Thank you!

Very Motivating!

Show up and do the work. Tension creates the energy to do something. Do something, anything but move forward.

I’m on day 3 of the Creative Workshop. It’s all about showing up and doing the work. It will create the habit and practice, practice, practice!

It is a pleasure to now know you. Keep remind me that I can do great things if I just do it.

Have a great rest of your day..
Bob

Eye opening

I only think about putting inthe work, it is just in my mind. I am just going with the flow. And I am not liking it all. I want to work on improving my football skills, I want to study for my CA final exam next year, I want to reduce my distractions. But I am living the same life everyday. I am not complaining to anybody but myself. I know complaining is not going to help. I want to be happy. I want to persist everyday and wake up everyday with an energy to make the most of my time. I am playing very below my average. I need to get myself on track. I promise after writing this I am going to take action to make my life better everyday.

And this article was very inspiring. Thank you :))

It's early in the morning in India... and this is the best way to start my day... I have to make time... not point just being upset and jealous.

Thanks a lot for this ❤

Good writting skill!

Well written. Helpful in deciding the priorities and moving out of the comfort zone in order to achieve the targets. So precise.

That's awesome😊👍

My experience is that I always thanked myself on the rare occasions that I chose to do the work over a distraction. Now that I am a little older and presumably, wiser, I choose doing the work a little more frequently than the distraction.

I just discovered you through James Clear’s weekly email. Enjoyed your succinct and useful message and the format of listening to you as I read your words. Thanks.

How I needed to hear this today! Thanks.

So very true! Several times over the past few years I’ve had this exact experience! In fact, now that I think about it, I had it just yesterday!! Time to stop regretting what I haven’t yet done and get to work!

Very wise words. Thank you. Shall aim to follow your advice... such a familiar syndrome. Best wishes with your journey...

Very purposeful and apt! Thank You.

Purposeful thoughts. That's what it matters. I would like to read or hear more from you.

Great insight!

Really true

Wonderful!

I think I'm going to frame this and hang it on my wall...

"Steal the hours from comfort."
Man I felt this one in my soul.
Thanks Derek!

Thanks Derek for sharing your wisdom. This is very powerful. Unless I act on the various goals that I have set for myself it will not be done. As Rumi says " As you walk in the way - The way appears."

This was one the the best lines I've come across it has given the motivation when I feel low and I could take up the action thanks a lot... 😌❤

Love this - 'steal hours from comfort'!

So simple and painfully true.

Dear Sir
I am moved by this wonderful message of yours shared by Mr. James Clear. I visited https://sive.rs/uncomf and heard you speak. Today your message has created a punch, an impact on my mind.
I am sure your message will leave a dent in my mind in the long run and make me spend a few hours that I used to surf the net for productive work.
Hope to see improvement in my life.
Thanks and regards,
Yours sincerely
Prasad

Came from James Clear newsletter. I am the person who gives up so have to remind myself of this.

Pithy thoughts. I especially liked the brilliant line, "You have to steal them from comfort." Well done!

Stealing hours from comfort gave me the utmost comfort at the end. Thanks Derek!

Short, to the point - thank you.

Yoda makes it less words:

Do. Or Do not.

thanks Derek