Your Comfort Zone Isn’t as Safe as You Think

Listen to an expanded conversation around this newsletter with special guests, Russell and Collette Brunson!:

It was a pitch-black night when Bart and James rolled into Las Vegas, the kind of darkness so complete that not a single star or sliver of moonlight dared to break through the inky sky. James and Bart had just traveled from Wickenburg, Arizona, arriving in Las Vegas with one goal in mind—to compete in a high-stakes jackpot team roping event, where the grand prize was a brand-new truck and trailer.

As James prepared to back his live-in quarters horse trailer into their campsite for the night, Bart offered to hop out and check for any obstacles. In the cowboy world, it's standard practice to have a spotter guide the driver, given the limited visibility with just the truck’s mirrors. But James, brimming with confidence, waved him off.

“Nah, I can see just fine!” he assured.

Famous last words.

As James slowly backed up, he failed to spot a small but mighty garbage dumpster—built tough from solid iron and entirely unmovable. A loud creaking and scratching sound echoed through the night as the unforgiving dumpster carved a deep, jagged gash into the aluminum side of his trailer.

And James' reaction? Well, let’s just say he wasn’t exactly thrilled with his parking skills, but he certainly wasn’t losing sleep over it either. As a welder with a knack for fixing things, he simply shrugged and took it in stride. The damage? Around $10,000 for someone else. For someone younger or less experienced in repairs, it could have been devastating—but for James, it was just another bump in the road, nothing a little elbow grease couldn’t handle.

“Ah well,” he muttered, “another day, another project.”

And that leads us to an interesting conclusion: how much trauma you experience from an event depends on who you were before the event occurred. For James, the trailer repairs were a challenge - but they weren’t devastating because of who he was in that moment.

So when it comes to Playing Full Out, how do we build the strength and capability to handle life’s challenges with resilience? How do we unlock our personal power and use it to uplift others on the journey?

Following the Energy: Unlocking Your True Potential

At the start of every new year, there’s a natural pull to explore fresh ideas for personal growth. This year, for Sunny, that pull has been toward the concept of energy. It all started while listening to a book by James Hollis, “A Life of Meaning: Exploring Our Deepest Questions and Motivations.”

In the book, Dr. Hollis explains how energy is a vital indicator of personal alignment and purpose. When we're engaged in pursuits that resonate with our true selves, we experience a natural flow of energy—leading to fulfillment and vitality. But when we act in ways that are out of sync with our deepest values, our energy depletes, leaving us feeling drained, burned out, or stuck.

Hollis urges us to pay attention to these energy patterns in our lives. When we recognize where our energy naturally rises or falls, we can make better choices that align with our core motivations and create a life filled with purpose.

But here’s the big question: what if fear is blocking our energy? What if we’re too scared to break free from old patterns and chase the things we deeply desire?

Shortly after choosing energy as her theme for the year, Sunny scrolled through Facebook and saw a post from her friend, Nhien Dhien, who had earned a badge for listening to a book ten times on Audible. Naturally, curiosity kicked in. The book? Of course. Energy Rising by Dr. Julia DiGangi, a neuroscientist. Synchronicities are real, people.

The Power of Energy in Personal Growth

The premise of Energy Rising is simple but powerful:

"To reach your full potential, you must learn to recognize and harness the energy within your brain. When you start viewing life less about what you do and more about the natural energies within and around you, your power to live and lead with impact grows exponentially."

Which brings us back to James' story—how do we become the kind of people who can handle life's inevitable challenges without crumbling?

The answer lies in growth, and here’s the hard truth: growth requires pain.

Too often, we stay stuck in comfortable patterns because we're waiting for the “perfect” outcome—one that doesn’t require struggle or discomfort. But that’s not how reality works. Growth always comes with some level of pain.

Think about lifting weights. When you first start, even a ten-pound dumbbell feels heavy. It hurts. You're sore for days. But as you keep showing up, that same weight starts to feel lighter, and you gradually increase the resistance. Eventually, you’re lifting 50 pounds—and laughing at the thought that ten pounds ever felt hard.

The funny thing is, when you're lifting 50 pounds, you're still carrying that initial 10 pounds—the weight and tension haven't disappeared, but your strength has grown so much that it barely feels like a challenge anymore.

The same goes for emotional and personal growth. The tension and challenges are still there, but your capacity to handle them grows.

Choosing Your Pain: Growth Versus Staying Stuck

So how do we take this idea and apply it to our own growth? How do we build the strength to become who we’re truly meant to be? It all comes down to embracing discomfort and choosing the greater pain—the pain of growth over the pain of staying stuck.

Let’s say you're a perfectionist. You have big dreams. You want to create, contribute, and make an impact, but your fear of not being "perfect" keeps you frozen.

So what’s the bigger pain—staying stuck in perfectionism, or stepping into who you know you’re meant to be?

The key is to start small, but do something that actually scares you a little bit. If it doesn’t scare you, it doesn’t count!

• Post something every day on social media, even if it’s not perfect.

• Share your music, even if it scares you.

• Start writing that book, even if it’s messy.

It’s like lifting that ten-pound weight—it’s uncomfortable at first, but every small action strengthens your ability to keep moving forward.

As you challenge yourself little by little, your brain rewires itself, forming new pathways that allow you to tap into the energy that truly drives you.

And this approach applies not just to personal growth, but to relationships, business, and any area of life where you’re feeling stuck.

Normalize the Right Things for Growth

Here’s something to consider—normalizing can either empower or devastate your life.

If you normalize self-doubt, procrastination, or fear, they will quietly take over, keeping you trapped in cycles that drain your energy and potential. But if you normalize the habits that once felt impossible—taking risks, showing up, and pushing forward—then growth becomes your new normal.

It’s all about making the conscious choice to lean into discomfort, to stretch your capacity little by little, and to realize that you can handle more than you think. Over time, the things that once felt absolutely insurmountable will become part of your everyday life, and the energy you once spent resisting change will now propel you forward.

So, ask yourself: what are you normalizing in your life right now?

Are you reinforcing patterns that hold you back, or are you building the resilience to pursue your biggest dreams?

Life Updates:

• Last Monday brought some crazy low temperatures to our area. In fact, a news article said it was colder where we are than it was in Antarctica that day (haha)! Of course, it’s summer in Antarctica so it was a balmy 14 degrees there… we were hitting about negative twenty with a high slightly below zero. BRRRRR. Remind us why we live here again?

• We made it to the gym a few times this week and also went and hit a pickleball. It feels good to get up and get moving! Bart went and played with a group of men last night that kept him on his toes! He had tons of fun, but also drank too much caffeine so he was up all night… good times!

• Jason West surprised Bart by sending him a pair of Meta glasses! SO COOL! Bart has been testing them out, and they are pretty fun so far. He even wore them to pickleball last night and did some video recording while he was playing - just like the good ‘ole GoPro camera, it’s fun to see pickleball from your own perspective playing back! You can play audio through the glasses (music or Audible), take photos, record video, and somehow… livestream. Oh - and you can also look at anything that has text on it and ask Meta to read it to you. I’m sure there’s more, but that’s what we have discovered so far!

• We are heading to Boise today so Bart can style Russell and Collette for the upcoming final Funnel Hacking Live that is happening in February! It will also be great to catch up with both of them… and of course we will probably sneak away and play some pickleball with Matt Frew at some point!

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