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The path you have been avoiding is rarely the one that lacks value. It is usually the one that carries the most. What I have noticed in my own life, and in the leaders I work with, is that the things we move away from and try to avoid have been the very things that hold the most significant growth.
let’s level up:
Grow Yourself To Grow Your BusinessSmash through growth ceilings,
That is a pattern worth examining. Not because avoidance is a flaw, but because what sits on the other side of the discomfort is often what the next phase of leadership requires.
Why the Path Feels UncomfortableDiscomfort is not a signal to stop. It is a signal that something unfamiliar is being asked of you. After all, for most leaders, the instinct to avoid discomfort was built early. It kept you safe. It kept the structure intact. And it became so reliable that it started running decisions you did not consciously make. However, at a certain point in leadership, the avoidance pattern itself becomes the constraint. The conversation you have been putting off. The direction you keep circling but do not commit to. The version of yourself you can see but have not stepped into. These are not signs that you are not ready. They are signs that the path is asking you to grow into the version of you that can walk it.
The Things You Avoid Teach You the MostIn my own experience, the things I ran from and tried to avoid were the very things I learned about myself the most. And so walking toward the discomfort, where it is unfamiliar and where the outcome is uncertain, is where the expansion lives. Not because difficulty is the point, but because the willingness to meet it reveals capacity you did not know was there. Difficulty and discomfort are not invitations to shut down. They are invitations to go deeper, to draw on reserves you have not yet accessed, and to discover more about yourself and your capabilities.
The Pattern That Keeps Leaders CirclingThere is a version of avoidance that looks productive. It shows up as preparation. As research. As waiting for clarity before committing. But underneath it, the pattern is the same. The path that requires the most of you is the one being deferred. And the deferral has a cost that compounds quietly over time. The decision you have been sitting on. The conversation you have been rehearsing. The direction you keep returning to in your thinking but have not acted on. These are signals, not obstacles.
Walking the PathThe path forward does not require you to have the full picture before you take the first step. It requires the willingness to move toward what is uncomfortable with your eyes open. Get clear on what you want. Name the direction, even if the route is not yet visible. And take the first step before the conditions feel ready, because the conditions do not become ready. You do, by walking. Then share the direction with someone who can hold you to it. Find the support that stretches you rather than the input that keeps you comfortable. And recognise that the answer to most of what you have been circling is already available. It has been waiting for you to ask.
To your brilliance, Tanya Cross Industry Leader Coach & The Coaches’ Coach BAppSoSc (Counselling) |
