15 Uncomfortable Things That Will Make You More Successful

One way to turn that discomfort on its head is to realize that the compliment has more to do with the person giving it than with you. But learning to use data to find opportunities and underscore your points is a game-changer in your career. Data Smart: A book by Data Scientist John Foreman, who is a wizard at taking the complex and putting into approachable and even entertaining terms. That's why your best asset in settling conflict is a collection of genuine questions and a patient ear to hear the answers. Make the time. Usually the comment goes something like this: "It seems like the company always recognizes the same people. I do good work, but it seems like no one notices." In those cases, talking about them doesn't make you an attention junkie it makes you a good communicator. If the personal attention makes you uncomfortable, focus your advocacy on the work itself. I was a good six months into my job as a product marketer for a software company before I finally owned up to not knowing what an API was.

Author: Meghan Keaney Anderson / Source: hubspot.com

In a truly beautiful letter to his daughter Yolande, Sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois extolled the virtues of being uncomfortable.

Yolande was headed to a new school halfway around the world from the neighborhood and people she knew. It was years before women had the right to vote, and decades before the Civil Rights Movement.

Du Bois knew she would have more than a few fish-out-of-water moments. Instead of trying to shield her from them, he asked her to revel in them:

Don’t shrink from new experiences and custom. Take the cold bath bravely. Enter into the spirit of your big bed-room. Enjoy what is and not pine for what is not. Read some good, heavy, serious books just for discipline: Take yourself in hand and master yourself. Make yourself do unpleasant things, so as to gain the upper hand of your soul. Above all remember: your father loves you and believes in you and expects you to be a wonderful woman.”

I am no W.E.B. Du Bois. I have neither his fortitude nor his stunning way with words. What I do have, however, is a small history of uncomfortable experiences that have made me stronger, and an endless sea of animated GIFs through which to illustrate those experiences.

Here are a handful of uncomfortable situations in which you should take De Bois’ advice and “Take the cold bath bravely.” You’ll be better off as a result.

(And remember: Investing in your career and developing new skills can often feel daunting — especially when you have a day job. If you’re looking for something you can work towards at your own pace, check out this on-demand marketing course.)

Brace yourself. It’s about to get awkward.

1) Learning to Take a Compliment

Tell me if this sounds familiar: You work exceedingly hard. You’ve honed your skills. You know when you’ve done great work and take a quiet pride in it. And yet, the moment someone verbalizes it in the form of a compliment you can’t seem to string two words together. Instead, you revert into one of the following:

The babbling-response.
The self-deprecating response.
The total and complete blackout.

That nonsense has to stop. Here’s how to take a compliment:

Realize that someone is paying you a compliment.
Let them finish.
Seriously, let them finish.
Take a breath.
Smile and say “Thank you. That’s really good to hear.”
Move on in the conversation. Don’t over-explain. Don’t undercut yourself. Just thank them sincerely and move on with a question about how their work is going.

Why is this so hard? According to a study by Acknowledgment Works, nearly 70% of people associate embarrassment or discomfort with the process of being recognized. Sometimes, this response is caused by the dissonance we feel when someone contradicts our own self-doubt.

But that doesn’t explain why people who are genuinely proud of themselves still balk at hearing that same praise from others. For those people, it often comes down to a learned-response. In other words, you are awkward when you receive compliments because I am awkward when I receive compliments — or, if not me, then your mom; your co-workers; your icons. We’re all making each other squirm.

One way to turn that discomfort on its head is to realize that the compliment has more to do with the person giving it than with you. “When someone is complimenting you, they are sharing how your actions or behaviors impacted them,” explains Business Psychologist Mark Goulston. “They are not asking if you agree.” So don’t rob them of that moment.

2) Public Speaking

You knew this one was coming, right? Fear of public speaking is so common it has its own phobia name: Glossophobia.

Now, I don’t think I need to go into the reasons behind this particular juggernaut of discomfort. We’ve all been there. Having that many eyes and ears on you is stressful. It makes you feel as though any mistake or imperfection will be amplified a thousand times. I’m also certain you realize how compelling a good public speaker can be, and how much it can advance your ability to lead and inspire.

So all that leaves is the classic glossophobia question: How do you get over it? The answer is a mix of substantial and superficial changes.

Know the essential points.

Do not attempt to memorize your speeches. Instead, memorize your key points and your pivot lines. Pivot lines are the sentences that will move you from one key point to another. They act as navigational guides for your audience and a momentary comfort zone for you. Use these pivot lines to reset, take a breath, and move to your next key point.

Understand that everyone wants you to succeed.

You are not going into battle. You are not facing a firing squad. These people you are talking to are all decent, interested folks. Many of whom also suffer from glossophobia. So know they are friendly, and talk to them like it.

For this last point, I turn to Harvard Associate Professor Amy Cuddy. She is a brilliant researcher and a self-proclaimed introvert who noticed something fascinatingly simple about skilled public speakers: They all looked comfortable, and they all appeared to be in command — even if that appearance was all a big ruse.

So she studied what happens to people’s mindset when they stood up straight, casually used the space around them, and otherwise “power-posed.” Turns out the physical act of power-posing can send biological triggers to your brain to reduce cortisol levels and increase testosterone, calming you down and empowering you simultaneously.

(Here’s a blog post on science-backed tips for better public speaking if you want to learn more.)

3) Working With Data

If you don’t take to math easily, then delving into data can be intimidating. But learning to use data to find opportunities and underscore your points is a game-changer in your career.

The trick to mastering data is to learn it in context. Start by getting to know the core metrics that reflect your work. Play with spreadsheets at the close of a month. Learn to recognize trends. Alter the data to see how moving one metric would influence the others. The more time you spend with the data the more natural interpreting it will become. Once you’ve done that, you can dig into the tougher stuff. Here are a couple of resources to get you started:

How to Use Excel: Essential Training for Data-Driven Marketing: A downloadable resource that includes videos, instructions for how to do specific things in Excel, and advice for using Excel to build reports.
14 Simple Excel Shortcuts, Tip & Tricks: A blog post with step-by-step instructions for creating pivot tables, filters, conditional formatting, VLOOKUPs, and more. Harry Potter references and GIFs included.
10 Excel Tips and Tricks Every Marketer Should Know: A blog post teaching you how to create a histogram and what exactly regression analysis entails. It’s a good time for all.
Data Smart: A book by Data Scientist John Foreman, who is a wizard at taking the complex and putting into approachable and even entertaining terms. While this book isn’t exactly an easy read, I can assure you it’s worth every minute invested.

4) Waking Up Early

It’s exhausting, this modern life. While it may seem like you should squeeze as many extra minutes of sleep out of the morning as possible, the opposite is usually true. Your energy, focus and mental capacity are at their highest during the morning hours and proceed to wane throughout the rest of the day.

Take advantage of that time before breakfast when the chaos of the day has yet to set in. For most people, waking up early is a learned practice.

First, make sure you’re cognizant enough to make the decision. Putting your alarm clock right next to your pillow is bound to result in you hitting snooze from a dazed state. You can’t be expected to make smart choices while you’re still dreaming. In addition, waking up early needs to become a pleasant experience. So if the thought of going straight from your warm bed to a shower or treadmill seems abrupt, then don’t do it. Instead, move from your bed to the cozy corner chair in your living room and read for a bit with a mug of coffee. What you do early on doesn’t matter, what matters is that you use the time in productive ways. (Read this blog post for more tips on becoming a morning person.)