This 1 Habit Allowed Me To Learn Faster, Become Smarter, And Reach The Top 1% Of My Industry

It’s not often that one single habit can affect your entire life.

Getting in the habit of flossing is good for you, but it probably won’t take you to the heights of your profession. Still, I found a habit that did help me reach the top 1% of my industry.

Quite simply, I got in the habit of leaving my comfort zone.

And the more I did it, the easier it was to keep doing it. The easier it was to be okay with that uncomfortable feeling.

Inertia in our Daily Lives

Think of it in scientific terms.

You probably learned about inertia in high school. A body in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted on by an outside force. A body at rest, well, it tends to stay at rest.

When you’re learning new things, when you’re pushing yourself to become better, when you’re getting outside of your comfort zone — you’re in motion.

And if you keep doing it, it gets easier to stay that way.

When you’re not doing any of that, when you’re just coasting — you’re at rest. And it can be difficult to break out of that state.

Basically, we resist changes to our current state. Sound familiar?

Breaking Through

You know the feeling if you’ve ever started running, learned to play an instrument, or worked on any long-term project.

At first, it’s difficult. Extremely difficult.

Your initial enthusiasm only gets you so far, and as it turns out, that’s not very far. The first time you go for a run, you only make it a couple blocks and then you walk home and lay on the floor for half an hour. When you first pick up a guitar, your fingers start to hurt and you have to put it down after just a few minutes.

But if you’re able to stick with it, if you can make yourself get through that first difficult period, then things suddenly start to feel easier.

You actually feel good after a run, instead of exhausted and sore. Your fingers get calluses and you can practice on the guitar for an hour. It starts to feel like it’s easier to keep running or practicing than it would be to stop.

That’s inertia.

Applying Inertia To Comfortability

The concept of inertia isn’t just limited to learning one specific skill.

If you can get in the habit of learning and developing new skills, you’ll always be looking to develop your abilities in new areas. What I found was that as I started to learn new things and expose myself to a wider world outside of my day job, I began to broaden my perspectives. I started to push myself a little more.

I got out of my comfort zone. And believe me, the first time that happened, I could feel the inertia holding me back.

The first time I spoke on stage was rough.

I was incredibly nervous. My voice was shaky. I was sweating. I was short of breath. Honestly, I could barely finish my presentation. And that didn’t only happen the first time I spoke.

I had that reaction many times in the beginning, but I kept pushing through it until I became comfortable with the experience. Until I built up that inertia and my body realized that this was the new normal. Better get used to it.

Staying In Motion

I replicated that same uncomfortable feeling when I began deejaying.

The very first time I deejayed, I was on stage at a conference with hundreds of people. Not exactly easing into it. They had forgotten to book entertainment, but a friend of mine at the conference had deejayed before. One of the organizers that we were friends with asked if we could deejay. I was nervous, but we agreed to do it.

So my friend showed me the ropes.

I learned how to work with the deejay controller, how to select the next songs, how to switch from song to song. But then he left. Multiple times. He kept jumping off stage to talk to people, and I was shooting him these frantic looks like, “Come back! What are you doing?” But he’d just give me a little wave that said, “You’re doing great. You’re fine.”

It was sink or swim. I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I had to learn.

But it turns out that type of situation is perfect for personal growth. The more uncomfortable I am, the more anxiety I have in the moment, the more I realize after it’s done how much I grew from being uncomfortable.

Pretty soon it gets to the point where you’re not nervous. You’re used to being out of your comfort zone and you can handle it when it happens.

But you have to start doing it, and keep doing it. If you can do that, inertia will take care of the rest.