Seek discomfort

‘Seek Discomfort’

What does that statement mean to you?

Let’s break it down.

Seek.

Means to find.

To search.

To go exploring.

Discomfort means to be uncomfortable.

To do something different.

To step outside of what you consider normal.

When was the last time you chased discomfort?

Too many of us don’t.

We get comfortable.

Stuck in our phones.

Stuck in our routines.

Stuck in our lives.

Wondering when life is going to happen to us.

When somebody or something is going to pull us out of our rut.

Sometimes that moment is unexpected.

Sometimes you’re forced into discomfort.

Forced into changing.

A death of someone close to you.

A job loss.

Losing everything you’ve worked so hard for.

Just like that.

All of these are horrible circumstances.

But that’s when you’re truly tested.

That’s when the real you is exposed.

Are you going to sit back and let life happen to you?

Or go out and make it the best possible story you can?

A life well lived is not always comfortable.

Not without its challenges.

Sometimes you chase those challenges.

Other times they’re forced upon you.

Regardless, in either circumstance, it doesn’t matter how it happened to you.

It’s only about how you respond.

How you choose to face the goal.

How you choose to seek discomfort.

Was writing last night about this.

Am I crazy for wanting to do this goal?

Conquer an Ironman in 7 months starting from zero?

Yea.

Of course I am.

I looked it up yesterday and it said that less than 0.01% of the total world population has ever completed an Ironman.

0.01%.

That’s what I’m hoping for.

That’s what I’m working for.

That’s what I will achieve.

No one said it would be easy.

No one said it would be without its challenges.

But that’s the point.

The point of all of this is the journey.

Not the finish line when I can call myself an Ironman.

But the discomfort I will face along the way.

This year has already been uncomfortable.

Didn’t think I would be training for all but 2 days in January.

But here I am.

The workouts are starting to ramp up.

They’re starting to get harder.

I’m starting to plateau.

But I’m still doing them.

I’m still improving.

I’m still conquering the discomfort.

Seek Discomfort also reminds me of Yes Theory.

The Youtubers who got me through med school and inspired me to my journey to become a VC.

Started watching them when they had last than 10k subscribers.

Now they’re almost at 10 million.

They came up with this motto.

That’s coincidentally the name of their brand.

Seek Discomfort.

It was so good I got it tattooed.

It’s a reminder every day.

Life isn’t supposed to be comfortable all the time.

It’s supposed to challenge you.

It’s supposed to knock you down.

It’s supposed to be uncomfortable.

You need to lean into that.

Chase it.

Learn to embrace it.

Because on the other side of that discomfort, you’ll understand what life is really about.

It’s about the challenges along the way and how you faced them.

So what about you?

When was the last time you chased discomfort?

If you haven’t in a while, go try it.

You’ll be shocked at how much better you are by the end of it.

Seek discomfort.

This week in training - (Follow me on Strava here):

Swimming - 7000 m - 2 x 2500m, 1 x 2000m. Decent swim workouts this week. Feel like I’m plateauing. Still decent speed but not going as fast as I would like. All good as I’m still so early and key at this point is to build your endurance, not improve your speed.

Biking - 115 km - Solid bike workouts this week. Felt much better on the bike, especially with my nutrition. 2 hour ride felt good and feel faster.

Running - 22.7 km - good run week. Started on the indoor track and felt good running there instead of the treadmill. Long run was up to 11.5k so slowly building to the marathon in May.

Notes from Week 6 of training:

• Another build week but felt much better this week, even with 3 days being 2 workouts/day.
• Food has been better this week, especially while riding. Probably still more I could be doing but will learn more soon. Starting to track what I’m eating this week with my nutritionist so let’s see how that goes.
• Feel like I’m plateauing in the pool. Was a consistent pace but not that fast. Know that’s not the point at this stage and just need to build endurance, plus still lots of time to improve, especially technique, but glad I got to 7k this week. Considering I just started swimming consistently 6 weeks back, happy I’m already at 7 kilometres in a week.
• Bike was better this week. Noticing significant improvements in my speed, especially on the long bike. On flat surfaces, was peaking at 33-34k/hr and think there’s probably more to go, especially once I get outside. Nutrition was way better, added some gels to the carb drinks and went better.
• Solid run week. First time on the indoor track and was great. Long run on the treadmill and got to 11.5k staying aerobic/in zone 2 the whole time. Back a little sore in the pool today after it, but not an issue.
• Finished Alpha Males (all 3 seasons - highly recommend it!! Funniest show I’ve seen in years and couldn’t stop laughing at certain points. In spanish but the subs are fine, don’t miss this), few more episodes of Prison Break season 2 and a bunch of movies - Man from Earth (8/10), Army of Thieves (6/10), Spy (7/10), Kneecap (7/10) and Peanut Butter Falcon (8/10 - soo good). Severance was not as good this week but still intriguing and so weird.
• Feel good at the end of this week. Lots accomplished and happy with the progress. Still more room to improve but doing well.

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