Uncomfortable Comfort

“Choose uncomfortable enlargement over comfortable diminishment whenever you can.”--Oliver Burkeman , “Four Thousand Weeks”

As we stood outside the office building where we would ascend the elevators to meet with the Learning and Development (L&D) team from 德勤 , I raised my gaze and noticed our reflection on the glass covering that shaped the building’s surface.? Looking up, I was reminded of a scene from a dystopian sci-fi flick–perhaps “Gattica” or “Equillibrium”--one of those movies where the protagonist pulls his way out from a world being asphyxiated by an overbearing ominous conformity.? But the reflection in the building was not the opening scene from a movie–this was real life.? People went to work in the building we would soon be entering.? They earned their salaries, ordered deliveries from Foodpanda, stepped outside for cigarette breaks, hailed taxis, opened and closed umbrellas on rainy days, exchanged business cards, perhaps even met their dates here.? I had to smile at our reflection as I watched other pedestrians come and go. I was coming here for work, true, but it was a new experience, a new location, a doorway into the unknown–a professional meeting, where I would need to be one of the primary figures, not from a business point of view, but from an exchange of ideas.? We were going as a group of students, in a sense.

“Are you ready for your big moment?? This is your time to be on stage,” my manager, Sean, had said to me on the ride over some minutes before we found ourselves stuck in time staring at our reflection.? I knew that this meeting was important not only for me, but also for the organization.? As Chief Learning Officer at Pershing Technology Services Corporation 北祥科技服務股份有限公司 , I had stepped outside of my comfort zone from day one on the job.? I wasn’t from an IT background, all my colleagues were Taiwanese, and I had zero experience in a corporate leadership role.? Still, Sean took a chance on me, and I continue to be grateful for the opportunity to be a passenger and a driver of my own personal and professional learning journey within the company.? When he launched the company’s rebranding in 2020, the role of CLO and “learning” was always an integral part of the new direction he would be taking the organization after the mantle of Chairman was inherited from his father.? Perhaps we were both coming into our roles in a way, and our roles became clearer with each passing year as we reflected together through 1-1 conversations.

“Where in your life or your work are you currently pursuing comfort, when what’s called for is a little discomfort?”? Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks

It took me a while, but I learned that in order for me to enjoy my job and find deeper meaning, I needed to be comfortable with awkwardness.? More than that….I needed to be comfortable and actively embrace being uncomfortable.? When we are uncomfortable, we’re most likely learning something from the experience, and we’ll certainly remember that feeling of being a bit awkward and out of place.? Standing there in front of the reflective building outside of Deloitte’s offices in Taipei brought that feeling of uncomfortable comfort that I have learned to chase after and crave in my role.??

If we want to ensure we have adventure in our professional lives, then we need to ensure we’re incorporating a certain amount of risk.? Risk includes a combination of uncertainty with a sprinkling of possible rejection.? We have ideas that are in our head, but we stop ourselves from letting them travel to our lips, fearful that it is not the right time, or that our ideas won't be accepted.??

Sitting in the offices of Deloitte, I let it slip from my lips during the business meeting that we should find time to grab a beer at another occasion.? To me it wasn’t important that my casual invitation was accepted or rejected, but I wanted to say it, I wanted to keep the mood light and with an air of adventure.? I dove in further during the meeting, as well as afterwards, asking our counterpoints from Deloitte if they would be willing to share their blueprint for how they approach building a learning organization, as well as if they would be willing to participate and make contributions to our internal company newsletter.? I didn’t know if they would answer affirmatively to any of my requests, but I had to ask and embrace the uncertainty.

“Let yourself go to places that don’t feel very comfortable, but they feel real, they feel true.? Just see what is and work at the not judging yourself.” Lisa Lahey on Brene Brown’s “Dare to Lead” Podcast.

The potential for rejection from others doesn’t mean that we needn’t make an effort ourselves.We need to give ourselves the opportunity to be rejected, rather than rejecting ourselves before the opportunity appears.? This is one of the key factors to maintaining a positive spirit of adventure in the workplace.? When we accept the fact that rejection is just another step towards a fresh opportunity, we’re embracing that uncomfortable comfort and potentially inching closer to achieving our goals.??

Let’s embrace the uncomfortable comfort, again, and again, and again.