Why Embracing Discomfort Can Lead to Profound Innovation and Change
Are you ready to step out of your comfort zone? Often, we find ourselves resisting discomfort and seeking stability in our lives. However, embracing discomfort can lead to profound innovation and change. In this article, we will explore the concept of discomfort and its potential for personal and societal growth.
The Power of Discomfort
It’s late afternoon at the Emirates Stadium when the Premier League’s most polarizing footballer makes a risk-averse pass. The crowd moans in disapproval, but little do they know that this discomfort may be the catalyst for growth and development.
Just like in football, discomfort can be a powerful motivator in our own lives. When we find ourselves in a state of stagnation, tolerating underperformance, it becomes crucial to recognize the potential of discomfort to push us towards change. Crises often force us to evaluate our circumstances and embrace innovation.
“Britain is stagnant precisely because it is doing well,”
Consider the case of Britain. Despite its relative economic prosperity, the nation faces challenges in areas such as planning laws, the single European market, and tax burden distribution. However, these issues are not severe enough to warrant swift and divisive reforms. The discomfort of a satisfactory status quo hinders the possibility of necessary change.
Similarly, Germany, the home country of the footballer Kai Havertz, also finds itself at a crossroads. Economic shifts, strained international relationships, and changing global perceptions present a need for change. However, when a nation is still relatively rich, safe, and free, it becomes difficult to initiate painful reforms.
Embracing Discomfort for Innovation
It may seem counterintuitive, but discomfort can be the impetus for innovation. While it’s human nature to cling to stability, true progress often stems from periods of crisis and profound discomfort.
Historical examples support the theory that crises precede significant innovation. The liberal economic reforms of the 1980s followed the OPEC crises. The modern welfare state emerged as a response to the turmoil of the world wars. Even Abraham Lincoln’s strengthening of the federal government during a time of internal chaos demonstrates the capacity for change during discomfort.
However, it is essential to note that discomfort alone does not guarantee innovation. It is the combination of discomfort and a willingness to embrace change that sets the stage for growth. Personal and societal breakthroughs arise when discomfort becomes too great to ignore.
The Trap of Tolerable Wickedness
In our own lives, we can fall into the trap of tolerable wickedness. As we reach middle age, we often experience a sense of discomfort rather than the fabled midlife crisis. With financial stability and a certain level of contentment, there might be no urgent reason to make significant changes that could lead to personal growth.
It is during these periods of relative comfort and stability that we need a catalytic shock to propel us forward. Breaking free from the comfort zone requires the recognition that tolerable underperformance or discomfort can prevent us from achieving our full potential.
The Havertz Conundrum
Returning to the protagonist of our football analogy, Kai Havertz, we can see parallels between his situation and the broader European context. Havertz, often regarded as a talented but underachieving player, represents Europe’s approach to economic performance and geopolitical influence.
Europe, like Havertz, possesses technical finesse and tactical flexibility. However, it falls short of reaching its full potential. Despite its achievements, Europe remains an insufficient achiever rather than an outright failure. The discomfort associated with this realization can be heard in the moans and criticisms directed towards Havertz.
Similarly, Europe must confront its discomfort and strive for innovation and greater success. It should embrace a catalytic shock, forcing the continent to address pressing issues and take bold steps towards progress.
Conclusion
Discomfort is not the enemy; it is an ally in our quest for growth and innovation. By acknowledging and embracing discomfort, both on a personal and societal level, we open ourselves up to the potential for profound change.
In this article, we explored the power of discomfort and its role in driving innovation. We discussed the tendency to resist change during periods of relative stability and the need for a catalytic shock to break free from the trap of tolerable wickedness.
Whether it’s on the football field or in our own lives, discomfort can be the spark that ignites profound transformation. By recognizing the discomfort and embracing the opportunity for change, we can unlock our true potential and achieve greatness.
Summary:
Discomfort can be a powerful motivator for change and innovation. Both on a personal and societal level, embracing discomfort can lead to profound growth. However, many individuals and nations find themselves in a state of tolerable underperformance, unwilling to make necessary changes. Crises often force us to confront discomfort and seek innovative solutions. This pattern of discomfort preceding innovation can be seen throughout history. Middle age can be a period of discomfort rather than a midlife crisis, as individuals resist significant changes that could lead to personal growth. Europe, like the footballer Kai Havertz, is often seen as an underachiever despite its achievements. Embracing discomfort can help individuals and societies break free from the trap of tolerable wickedness and unlock their full potential.
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It’s late afternoon at the Emirates Stadium when the Premier League’s most polarizing footballer makes a risk-averse pass. The moans. Oh, the cacophonous moans. Reader, I pitied him. Some Arsenal sponsors, so far, do not “have” Kai Havertz.
The cheekbones don’t help. Neither did elegant languor. You always think she should be on a Milanese runway in a long matte black Issey Miyake trench coat. But there is something more going on here than just optical prejudices. People see Havertz as an underachiever: less than the sum of his exquisite parts. At 24, she is having a high-profile career, but not the Ballon d’Or winner that seemed like her natural match as a teenager. This is not a crisis. It is a discomfort.
The trick for individuals, and for larger entities, is to understand that discomfort can be the worst fate. Crises often force change. Tolerable underperformance is, or can be, forever.
Consider Havertz’s nation of residence. It is clear that Britain would be richer if it relaxed its planning laws, rejoined the single European market and shifted some of the tax burden from workers to asset-rich retirees. It is also clear that things are not bad enough for such divisive reforms to be sellable. Britain is stagnant precisely because it is doing well. This is still a land of low unemployment, M&S Simply Food, a cosmopolis of capital, bread and circuses as fun as the Premier League and, at last, normal politics. Things would have to get worse to get better.
Or take Havertz’s own country. Germany has to change. His best client (China) is on bad terms with his most important friend (United States). The previous opening of him towards Russia no longer has a date. In the world press, his once-celebrated economic model is invoked as a cautionary tale, not a model. This won’t do.
It actually will, won’t it? How can a nation carry out painful reforms when it is still richer, safer, and freer than most?
Ask the French. Publishing houses in its literate capital have been publishing books called things like French suicide and The France qui tombe. But if France was that screwed up, Emmanuel Macron could redo the place without provoking vehement protests. Precisely because enough people have so much to lose, the change is provocative. But this truth is not intellectually sexy. Nobody wants to read a book called La France doit s’mejororer un peu.
Look, I know how close I am to a morbid plot line. So, to be clear, I am not asking History to send a crisis to Europe. There is no guarantee that a place will undergo the change if its problems go from chronic to acute (see Argentina). It’s just hard to ignore a certain pattern of events. The liberal economic reforms of the 1980s followed the OPEC crises. The modern welfare state arose out of the world wars. Under conditions of internal chaos, Abraham Lincoln, the American Bismarck, strengthened the federal government. Cause and effect are difficult to establish, but the records continue to show these chronological proximities of crisis and profound innovation.
The trap of tolerable wickedness is there in our own lives. I have come to suspect that hardly anyone suffers from the legendary midlife crisis. What happens at that age is discomfort. It’s hard to get out of this rut because things are more or less fine there. With more money and confidence at hand than in youth, there is no express reason to make breakups (professional, romantic) that could lead to something better. Middle age almost needs a catalytic shock.
A Chelsea fan, Havertz’s former employer, tells me that Arsenal will fall short in the league this year because the player will be too good to be sacked, but not good enough to elevate the team. It’s better to have signed lesser talent, he says, who could quickly fail and get promoted.
Havertz is often seen as a very European footballer, due to his technical finesse and tactical flexibility. (He has no definite position.) But what if Europe is a very Havertzian place? In terms of its economic performance and geopolitical influence, it is a continent with eight goals and five assists per season. There are much worse things. This is an insufficient achievement, not a failure. But just listen to the moans out there.
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