Comfort Kills Artistic Impulse
Have you ever noticed that if you have a week to do something, it almost never gets done until the deadline is lurking? An idea can quickly blossom into an entire assignment. Something about being put under pressure brings out the absolute best in all of us. It is for this reason that I believe you should keep the pressure on, stay busy, and never get comfortable.
The Farrelly brothers once said, “Life is like going the wrong way on a moving walkway. Stand still and you go backwards. Walk and you stay put. You have got to hustle to get ahead.”
That is the absolute truth! Think about it, if you just go with the flow, you may be doing alright temporarily, but it isn’t until you get on the work grind that you start making any real progress. You have to work your heart out day in and day out to achieve your goals. I am trying to say that my life improved astronomically when I decided I was going to get up early and work until the late hours of the night. I realized that I was a happier person because of it. Happiness and achievement have strong correlations, and for good reason. Every time you set your sights on something and you put in the time to complete it, you feel really good about yourself. It was out of my comfort zone to get up at 6 in the morning and run, just as it was out of my comfort zone to skip a social engagement on a Friday night in order to study more, but until you’ve decide to maximize productivity and minimize time spent arbitrarily during the day, you are going to stay put.
Binge watching Netflix on a Saturday is a lot of fun but it will not make you happy. Getting a 4.0 in your undergraduate studies on your way to a prestigious graduate program is not fun. The journey isn’t going to be easy, you will have to battle with discouragement on a regular basis and you aren’t necessarily going to be the most popular kid at your school. I always hear people talk about making memories in college, usually in reference to putting off their school work at the moment. I am all for making memories, and I love to have fun, it just isn’t my first priority anymore. I am telling you put in the work now and the opportunities to have fun will find you. You are in control of your life’s achievements, be the best, have fun.
