Tammy A. Morton

Limitles

If you can’t tell by now my husband and I are sort of movie buffs.

A favorite pastime on date night.

We wanted to check this movie out because of what it represented to us…

plus the idea of using 100% of your brain is pretty fascinating.

After the movie we engaged in discussion about the parts of the movie that stuck out the most for us.

One part in particular was interesting.

The part were the main character’s girlfriend was trapped by the hired gun of a power hungry man.

She had to

Take one of the little clear pills to think her way out of a dangerous situation.

Within 30 seconds of taking the pill, she sprung into action,

taking chances that she would have never thought of to get away from the thug.

Without the little clear pill, fear would have kept her…

Trapped.  Her mind would have kept her trapped.

She didn’t perform some amazing feat.  The pills didn’t make her fly or give her super strength.  It just allowed her to get uncomfortable and do what was necessary.

All inhibitions left, and the mind was able to lay out a clear path of escape.

I believe that the pill blocked the lizard brain.

Seth Godin speaks of this in this presentation here:Seth Godin: Quieting the Lizard Brain

The lizard brain likes to keep us comfortable.

As entrepreneurs the lizard brain is a peril to action and progress.

Being comfortable will introduce you to it’s friends.  Comfortable’s friends are:

Procrastination

Un-fulfillment

Disappointment

Depression

Lack of Purpose

Hope Deferred

Fear

Anxiety

Panic Attacks

Mediocrity

Poverty

Deficiency in Value

You see, being comfortable is actually pretty dangerous.

The list of friends that being comfortable introduces you to, well- they have friends too.  Some of them are accompanied by pretty dangerous friends as well.  For example,

Jealously is a destructive friend.

And it’s friend Murder begs for blood.

Jealously and Murder destroys hopes, dreams, lives, etc.

Can you believe that Comfortable introduces all of these friends?

I had to review what Seth Godin spoke about in my own life.

Case in point, I have a friend that is in town right now.  She is one of my best friends since 7^th grade where I met her.

When we were both 24 years old, she had moved on to get her Masters degree and made plans for her PhD.  And today, I am PROUD to call her Doctor!

So here I was, still in our little town and basically doing very little.

I had strong desires

To move to the big city and pursue a degree, but being comfortable kept me in my little town.

It wasn’t until my friend approached me during one of our road trips and encouraged me to get my education and move away from my little town.

She took me to Philadelphia during a Greek weekend, and…

I was sold.

I loved the town, the history, the schools, parks, social life, etc.

I saved money in 6 months and moved into a Junior apartment in University City in Philly.  I absolutely loved the adventure and a lot of awesome things happened because I was willing to get uncomfortable and make it work.

Not everything was easy street.

My first year there was hell.

The spoiled comfortable me had to be exposed and rid of.

That year, I hustled, holding down 2 jobs, getting used to big city life.

My second year was much better because my skin had grown a little tougher.  I was more resilient, patient, and willing to think outside the box.

Philadelphia prepared me for New York.  Talk about getting uncomfortable.

New York prepared me for Italy.

Italy prepared me for England, and so on and so forth.

The lizard brain was quieted.  It tries to come back, but I tell it to shut the hell up.

Actually, I had to speak to my husband’s lizard brain last week.  He had to speak to mine about 1 month ago.

I’m not saying that it goes away, but you can keep it in check when you are aware of it.

Don’t let the lizard brain keep you comfortable, because comfort has a lot of unsavory friends that accompany it.

Live Life,

The Tamster