The speaker shares their personal experience of how they felt happier when they subjected themselves to discomfort, particularly during their first year of university. They realized that their brain had created a comfort zone, which categorizes activities into easy and hard to do, with the easy ones requiring little effort and mental resistance. However, they discovered that the comfort zone is not a reliable guide for making decisions, as it prioritizes comfort over what's good for us.
The speaker argues that the comfort zone can be limiting and can shrink if we don't challenge ourselves. They suggest that instead of relying on the comfort zone, we should make values-based decisions, figuring out what kind of person we want to be and what skills we want to learn. By living according to our values, we can expand our comfort zone and make it work in our favor.
The speaker concludes that by disregarding discomfort and making decisions based on our values, we can expand our potential and live the life we want to live. They also promote Skillshare, an online learning platform, as a tool for developing skills and pursuing personal growth.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. The more the author subjected themselves to discomfort, the happier they were.
2. The author's comfort zone is concerned with keeping them inside of it.
3. The comfort zone makes things outside of it uncomfortable and hard to do.
4. The comfort zone shrinks if one doesn't do anything about it.
5. Unless one ventures at least a little bit beyond the borders of the comfort zone, it will get smaller and harder to escape.
6. The comfort zone is a terrible guide for telling one what to do with their life.
7. The author used to play Halo Five for hours and hours every day, which made their comfort zone shrink.
8. The author took a class on Skillshare called Storytelling in Film: Using Cinematography to Convey Emotion.
9. Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of classes covering countless topics.
10. Skillshare empowers users to accomplish real growth.
11. Skillshare classes are designed for real life, so users can easily apply whatever they're learning into their real life pursuits.
12. Skillshare is extremely affordable, especially when compared to in-person workshops and master classes.
13. With an annual membership, Skillshare costs less than $10 a month.
14. The first 500 users who click the link in the description below get two months of Skillshare Premium absolutely free.