Discomfort and Consistency

Our office follows Steve Shull at Performance Coaching.  I really appreciated his January 18th blog titled “Discomfort, Consistency, and the Internal Terrorist.”

The central message: discomfort isn’t a sign that we’ve taken a wrong turn, rather it is the evidence that we’re moving forward. The article reminds us that the instinct to retreat when effort feels hard or slow is not just common, it’s wired into our survival brains. That automatic response, what the author calls the “internal terrorist,” steers us toward comfort because it feels safe not because it serves growth.

This resonates especially deeply for anyone building a business or a career. In life, the work that matters most is rarely dramatic or immediately rewarding. It’s the simple actions done every day, learning new skills, nurturing relationships, showing up even when the payoff isn’t visible yet. As the blog points out, the real challenge isn’t that the tasks themselves are hard, it’s that repeating them without instant results feels uncomfortable.

That’s exactly why small, consistent improvements matter. Daily habits, even if they seem boring or repetitive, compound into real progress. By building structure and standards around these small actions, we start to shift from being led by emotions to being anchored in disciplined behavior. The result isn’t just improved performance it’s trust in ourselves and our process.

Ultimately, real growth doesn’t happen in a single breakout moment. It happens in the quiet persistence of showing up, doing the work, and learning to see discomfort not as failure, but as the price of progress. That shift, from avoiding discomfort to accepting it as part of the journey, is what transforms effort into mastery and aspiration into achievement.

Read the full article at https://www.performancecoaching.com/blog/discomfort-consistency-and-the-internal-terrorist