Your success will in large part be determined by how comfortable you are making yourself uncomfortable.

Everything you want in life exists just outside your comfort zone.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

We've heard all that before, but often times it sounds like something that the bosses might say when they're too polite to say "Shut up, quit bitching and make more calls." That's a loose translation.

But Bill Eckstrom, today's guest on the #GetYaSome Radio Show, says that comfort will ruin your life, and here's what makes him different:

He has the science to back it up.

Bill is founder of the EcSell Institute and coauthor of The Coaching Effect. He spent years analyzing over 100,000 workplace coaching interactions and the data tells him that the the platitudes are true; growth can only occur in a state of discomfort, and staying comfortable inevitably leads to stagnation and regression. 

Your choices are always sink or swim; treading water is never an option.

He compiled his findings into a 12 minute TedX video which has been viewed 3 million times, making it one of the fastest growing videos of all time.

In this episode, Bill and I talk about the 4 states or environments that we can operate in: what Bill call the 4 Growth Rings

STAGNATION - Low performance with low or negative growth

ORDER - Comfortable with predictable outcomes

COMPLEXITY - Discomfort with unknown outcomes

CHAOS - Low performance, and low growth, but frenzied

Bill goes on to explain that true growth, in practically every area of our life, can only be achieved by establishing order, where outcomes can be predicted ( we know that if we make 50 phone calls we can set 5 appointments and sell 1 thingamajig), and then testing the boundaries of order by changing the inputs to see what happens next.

He likens it to an athlete reaching a performance plateau. The only way to move beyond there is to change things up

If you keep on doing what you're doing, you're going to keep on getting what you're getting.

And then the interview gets really, really uncomfortable.

Bill advises salespeople become aware of which growth state they're in through the practice of daily meditation.

And I offer to drive to Lincoln, NE to kiss him dead on the mouth.

I get excited when anyone backs me up and encourages salespeople to meditate because you can't get where you're going unless you start where you are. And where you are is always this present moment. 

Right here. Right now. 

Connect with Bill Eckstrom