Challenging Our Comfort Zones

The longer we are associated with something the closer we get to it. Those things become "well-known" and comfortable to us. I'm imagining things like my golf clubs. I have a set of 1995 Mizuno blades that I have been playing with for almost 20 years. I've tried Titleist tour irons, Taylor Made's, several different irons, but I always come back to my Mizunos. Why? Because they just seem to "fit", and I've become very familiar with them over the years. I'm 100% convinced this also has a psychological affect on me too. I'm just comfortable with them, which allows me to have the confidence I need to shoot 65. Ok, I'm lying, I've never shot 65.....but you get the point. Because of this close relationship I have with my Mizunos, I haven't changed anything in almost 20 years.

Those golf clubs give me a false sense of security, because I'm sure I could stick to a set of Taylor Made irons and within a month or so, play just as well with them as I did my Mizunos. But the mind is a powerful thing, and for me, my mind just hasn't yet convinced me to ditch the blades.

I know that my example is rather trivial, so I'll pivot to how my eyes were recently opened about how "familiarity", in certain aspects, can be a stumbling block to progress and success.

This past January, my wife and I attended an amazing conference in Tampa, FL, Q4Live. The purpose of this conference was to get varying parties of the healthcare/benefits world together to exchange ideas and learn from each other. Consultants, brokers, third-party administrators, physicians, pharmacy benefit experts, you name it, they were there. It is arguably the best conference I've ever attended. I learned a lot at that conference, but there was one thing that resonated personally with me that I want to share with you.

Q4Live is a member conference for Q4Intelligence members, and my friend Kevin Trokey is the founder of Q4. It was something he said during his opening presentation that resonated so much with me, it immediately jarred me into a different frame of mind. His comment was simple: "What got us here, won't get us there." I've shared with Kevin the impact this statement has had on me personally and professionally. This statement can be applied to many aspects of life and business. In this case, Kevin was applying it to my profession.....benefits consulting/brokering. In a nutshell, he described how the actions of the past will not resolve the present and future challenges we face in healthcare. Putting 3 or 4 carrier's rates on a spreadsheet at renewal time isn't solving any of our healthcare challenges, it's actually fostering them. Neglecting solutions because we make so much money perpetuating the status quo is part of the problem, not the solution. But why do we do that? Mainly because it's the path of least resistance, and it's familiar! "But Kevin, I know Blue Cross's plans better than all the others. I know Aflac's Cancer policy better than Allstate's. I've been doing it like this for 10 years and I've done pretty well for myself".

Key phrase there...."for myself". We make all kinds of excuses not to change or challenge ourselves.

When I get back to a client-centered frame of mind, it's easier to realize that what is familiar and comfortable for ME may not be the ideal thing for my clients. Challenging one's self is a daily grind. In Tampa, I realized that the familiarity of what we knew and what we had been doing was preventing us and our business from reaching the next level, and it was also robbing our clients of valuable solutions. So, for me, keeping a client-centered frame of mind is how I'm able to challenge myself on a daily basis, and commit to challenging the status quo in healthcare. When I'm selfish, and thinking only of myself and my success, it's easy to revert back to the familiar, easy, and comfortable status quo.

The status quo got me here, but if I am to be a small part of the solution in healthcare instead of part of the problem, the status quo certainly won't get me there. Albert Einstein once said, "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." Facing our "familiarity" with the status quo cannot be avoided.

Challenge yourself to think differently. Ask yourself if you're avoiding change just because you're comfortable where you are. To grow, we have to embrace discomfort. To solve the complex problems that exist in our current healthcare system, we must overcome the status quo thinking that created them.

As I was completing this post this morning, Dave Chase posted a video here on LinkedIn that I would like to share with you. His comment for the video was, "Make no mistake. Perpetuating status quo health benefits plans perpetuate and extend the opioid crisis." Yet another sobering example of the dangers of familiarity.