Have you ever had a boss who pushed you to perform?
You may have hated it at the time. But in retrospect, you see how it helped you grow and achieve more than you thought possible?
I know I have, and I've heard this story from many others, too. And I've always found it interesting how often people look back on those experiences and credit the same boss, teacher, or mentor with helping them become who they are today.
These individuals push us past our comfort zone. They push us to get uncomfortable. It sucks! No one likes to be uncomfortable – our entire economy is built around selling increased comfort and convenience.
But that's where growth happens.
Outsourcing Discomfort
There's a business called StretchLab. You go in, pay a trained "Flexologist" (a certified professional specializing in assisted stretching), and they help you stretch beyond the point where you can push yourself.
The first time I learned of this, I thought it was ridiculous.
But now...I get it. When we know we need to do something uncomfortable, it's actually easier to outsource the source of that discomfort to someone else! If you have an injury that requires stretching beyond a point that's easy for you to push yourself, you can hire someone else to ensure you get beyond that point.
...which brings us to the challenge of being your own boss.
The Comfort Zone Paradox
I've been doing this long enough to know that you never outgrow challenges – they just change and evolve. Well, if you're growing, that is. If you're not facing new challenges, you're squarely in your comfort zone – and comfort can easily become complacency.
Here's where I run into a philosophical dilemma. On one hand, I believe it's wise (and admirable) to identify enough and stay there. On the other hand, in a competitive game (like business), you have to keep improving just to stay in the same place!
It's good to be satisfied. But it's dangerous to be complacent.
Where's the line? I'm still looking for that answer. But when I'm pursuing my ambition, I have a new mantra:
Push the pace, sustain the standard.
Push the Pace
Pushing the pace means moving a little faster than is comfortable. This week, we kicked off four concurrent test projects with different video editors.
Four!
Last month, we ran a single test with a new editor, and that relationship ultimately didn't work out. As a result, we're back at square one (but lost several weeks of time). So we decided to accelerate our progress of finding our next hire – instead of trying another single test, we'll do four at once.
That's pushing the pace.
At the same time, I've started other projects, including:
- Updating The Lab sales page
- Launching registration for The Lab IRL, our in-person event
- Spinning up a referral directory inside The Lab
- Putting together a mastermind program inside The Lab
- Implementing new email automations
- A (still secret) design project
- A (still secret) writing project
That's pushing the pace. It's uncomfortable – there are a lot of balls in the air, and I'm investing cash in each of these projects simultaneously! But if I were to start them sequentially, the overall progress would be much slower.
When done well, pushing the pace taps into some unused potential and helps you grow faster – and those gains compound over time!
The challenge, of course, is ensuring that we give each of these projects enough of our attention and effort to be successful. And that's where the second half of the mantra comes in.
Sustain the Standard
You need to uphold a standard of quality for your work. And that standard will increase all the time. But if pushing the pace makes it impossible to sustain the standard, you've pushed it too far.
Caleb Ralston explained this to me as the accordion method. You expand your overall output, but if it fails to meet your quality standards, you constrict again.
Some key ways to identify if you're failing to meet your standards:
- The work doesn't look, sound, or feel like you
- You're embarrassed to publish the finished work
- You're publishing to meet a deadline (but you know it's not ready)
- Your audience is less engaged than they were before
- The work isn't having the same impact as it did when the pace was slower
Knowing Your Limits
Your team, like your body, has limits. You can't push the pace indefinitely – you need to watch for signs that the wheels are coming off and address them.
If increasing the pace isn't making an impact, that's a problem.
If you or your team are burning out, that's a problem.
If this reveals holes in your process or capabilities, that's a problem.
In those cases, slow down, address the issues, and press forward again.
Conclusion
Most of the time, we underestimate ourselves (and our team). Not only can we operate at a faster pace than feels comfortable, but we can sustain a higher standard than feels comfortable, too.
Whether you're a solo creator or leading a creative team – it's on YOU to set the pace and enforce the standard. YOU are the flexologist helping the team go beyond their comfort zone.
Questions to Consider
- Where in your work could you increase pace without sacrificing quality?
- What projects are you planning sequentially but could actually start in parallel?
- How do you define your quality standard, and how do you measure it?
While increasing the pace may be uncomfortable at first, your team and your business will be stronger for it.
