Welcome to Day 4 of A Week of Living Brilliantly.
Ruben Chavez is a writer, host of The Think Grow Podcast, and the creator of @ThinkGrowProsper — which he started back in 2014 to keep himself inspired during a difficult time. Today, it’s grown into a media company and educational platform with a global audience of over 2 million.
And Ruben is here to remind us of something we all need to hear …
The Lesson:
There’s a myth worth busting: if you do life “right,” it’ll all be smooth sailing.
But the truth? Being human = navigating discomfort.
Ruben puts it beautifully: every meaningful thing in life comes with a dose of discomfort. Building a family. Building a business. Building a new version of yourself.
And I’ll put it bluntly: a lot of less meaningful things do too.
So avoiding discomfort = avoiding your humanity and building roadblocks between you and the things you want in life.
No good, right?
So, what can you do instead?
Ruben teaches this: use your discomfort as an opportunity to practice courage.
After all, courage is a skill, not a personality trait.
And every time you’re faced with your discomfort, you are teaching your body and your brain that you can handle being uncomfortable.
What you’ll soon realize is that it won’t knock you off your course or prevent you from claiming and building what you want.
Just like building a muscle, using it is how it gets stronger.
The invitation
What if you shifted your relationship with discomfort a little — and intentionally framed it as an invitation to practice courage?
- Nervous about making that pitch? Tend to the nerves … and make the pitch anyway.
- Dreading a tough conversation? Feel the lump in your throat … and have the conversation anyway.
- Tempted to avoid hitting publish on a LinkedIn post? Acknowledge the flutter in your stomach … and share it anyway.
Courage isn’t about eliminating fear. It’s about rehearsing how you meet it.
Your turn
- Where are you already doing this? Facing and managing the discomfort to build your courage and get to the reward on the other side? Let’s celebrate that!
- Where is fear or avoidance of discomfort playing a bigger role than you might like? Let’s celebrate noticing that! (Noticing is the first step in making a different choice.)
A Week of Living Brilliantly is a free mini-course designed to spark new ideas, gently poke your thinking, and maybe (hopefully) even delight you.
Seven days. Seven different teachers who’ve shaped me. One short lesson each day from September 29–October 5.
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