The Power of Doable Discomfort | Your Path to Transformation

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Welcome to the Magnetic Creator podcast. I'm your host, Melanie Mishler, and each week we have intimate conversations about the things that matter most in life. My superpower is helping you remember who you truly are. A powerful, magical creator. I give you proven tools to help you get unstuck and manifest a life that sets your heart on fucking fire. Are you ready? Let's go. Hey, friend, welcome back to the podcast.

I hope you had a great Fourth of July last week. It was Fourth of July here in the US. Normally, Andy and I would barbecue, have friends over, do the fireworks and all that stuff. Last week and this week, it has been so freaking hot here in California. We basically just stayed inside and tried not to melt. We were basically trying to stay cool and prep for the weekend because last weekend we

three weddings and it was 113 degrees here. That is just not natural and should not happen in California. This is the reason we typically take July and August off from weddings, but this year we had some really great clients and we wanted to work with them. So we made some exceptions and now I'm remembering why we don't work in July. Anyway,

On the last episode, we talked about how it's better to embrace and recognize fear instead of just pretending to be fearless and white knuckle it through our lives. Because let's be real, most good things in life are preceded by some amount of fear. And usually the bigger the thing or the better the thing, the more fear that we have. And you know what? This week's topic is a perfect follow -up because I want to teach you a concept called

doable discomfort. And this is all about how we dance with fear and use it to propel ourselves forward. Now, first I want to say I did not come up with this concept or this idea. It was actually taught to me several years ago by one of my amazing coaches, Corinne. And I have found it over the years really powerful and a way to stretch ourselves when we're going for a big

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or wanting to manifest something really big in our lives. This doable discomfort is like a delicate dance where we stretch beyond our comfort zone without completely freaking out our brain and shutting things down. Because what happens is when we set huge goals for ourselves or want to manifest something really big that's far beyond the scope of what we're currently living or experiencing, often our brains will throw up a bunch of feared resistance. And

fear and resistance will shut us down very often before we even get started. So let's dive deeper into this concept. But I first want to give you a visual because I'm a very visual learner. And if you're like me, this might help you understand this concept a little bit better. So if you have a piece of paper, a blank piece near you, then just grab that. And I want you to draw a circle on it in the middle and inside that circle, write comfort zone. And this is your comfort zone where

Everything feels safe and familiar and no risk taking, right? Now, I want you to draw a bigger circle around the comfort zone and that middle zone there, that is your doable discomfort zone. And then everything on the outside, I want you to write scared shitless zone. That's our freak out zone. That's where our brain starts shutting down. Now here's where a lot of us go wrong, especially when we're setting those larger goals or trying to manifest.

big changes. have a tendency to set these massive goals that throw us straight into the scarce shitless zone. It's like, do not pass go, do not go through the doable discomfort, go straight to scarce shitless. And then we just kind of freeze. So I see this a lot with people who especially people who are new to manifestation or new to goal setting. Lots of times I'll hear people say something like, I want to manifest a million dollars. And that's all great,

Currently, they're struggling to make ends meet. Like they are in debt, they can't pay their bills. Going from that to manifesting a million dollars is a huge leap, right? So instead of trying to make these enormous jumps that our brain will spit out as like not realistic, we need to take manageable steps into that doable discomfort zone. It's almost like

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dipping your toe into the pool instead of just diving head first into the deep end. So let's break this down with a real life example. Andy and I spent a lot of our career coaching new photographers and often they would come to us because they had a day job and they wanted to break into the industry or they wanted to start a business and go full time and make at least six figures with their business. And naturally that can be really fucking scary to leave the security of your steady paycheck, your insurance.

all those comforts of the quote job to start your own business and you know, in the arts basically. And what happens if we just set this big goal like I'm going to leave my job, start this business and we don't see a way or a path forward, then our brain will shut it down. So instead of advising them like, yeah, let's do this, quit your job tomorrow, let's go full time. We help them to kind of ease through that doable discomfort zone. So maybe it was making a plan for when to leave their

or building up savings or getting to a place where they are replacing their current income with their new business before they make that transition. So what we would do is we would guide them into a place where they're just uncomfortable enough, but not so scared that

completely paralyzed by fear. Because that is not a fun place to be and not a lot gets done there. Typically when we get into that fear, we start zoning out and checking out with things like mindless numbing on TV or scrolling and doing anything to avoid actually moving ourselves forward. And the beauty of the doable discomfort is that it stretches you just enough to grow, but not so much that it's going to shut you down. It's a sweet spot. It's a spot where progress happens.

where you push your boundaries without pushing yourself over the edge. I want you to remember, transformation isn't about making giant leaps. It's not quantum leaps that are gonna terrify you. It's about small, consistent, little steps in the right direction, pushing us just beyond what's comfortable. And that's how we saw our photography students consistently make progress towards their long -term dreams. This is what I do with my coaching clients. This is how we get them to make such big.

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progress without freaking out. It's not about big progress quickly. It's about small progress slowly. Okay. Now let's, let's get another example. New Year's resolutions is a really good one. We've all been there, right? January 1st, we're feeling all motivated to change our lives. So we make these massive resolutions like I'm going to go to the gym and work out for two hours every day, or I'm going to completely overhaul my diet.

not have any alcohol or carbs or meat. I'll be a vegan and I'm to do that all overnight. But what happens mid January, we're burnt out, we're frustrated and we're right back where we started completely giving up. Right? So why does this happen? It's because again, we sweep through herself right into the deep end, right into that scared shitless zone without easing through the doable discomfort. instead, if we didn't do that, if we

Apply doable discomfort. Maybe instead of promising ourselves to go to the gym for hours every day, we start with a simple walk three times a week or yoga once a week. Or instead of doing a complete diet overhaul, we just begin by not eating after six or adding another vegetable to our diet or something small like

And my clients always say, it's just not enough. Like it's not good enough. want, I need to do something bigger, but I want you to remember these smaller steps. They might not sound impressive or exciting, but here's the thing. They are doable. They push you just enough to create that change, but not so much that you're going to freak out and give up. So over time, these small changes add up. It's like a snowball going down in an avalanche or, know, a snowball gaining momentum.

And that is the power of doable discomfort in action. So I want you to think about one area in your life where you might be feeling stuck. Maybe it's your career, maybe it's relationships, finances, personal growth. We all have one. We all have one area, no matter how successful we are, that one area where we're feeling like we're just a little stuck or we're not quite where we want to

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With that area, I want you to think about what's one step that you can take that falls into this doable discomfort zone. And again, it should make you a little nervous. It should be uncomfortable, but not so much that it's gonna freak you out or shut you down. Something that you're willing to do, willing to be uncomfortable with because you know it's moving you towards the direction of your goal. Remember, you've already succeeded. You've already had so much success in other areas of your life.

So it's important to draw on those successes and also to remember that most likely they happened in small increments, no matter what it was, whether it's getting in shape, losing weight, getting an education, starting a career, having a baby, right? I mean, we don't just think about having a baby and then the next day we have it, we go through a process of slowly growing this baby, of slowly becoming a mother, taking those tiny, tiny steps.

That's what's gonna create that lasting transformation in your life. All right, friend, with short and sweet again, I hope you stay cool if you're here in California or anywhere else where it's blazing hot, and I will see you next week.