Contentment Can Kill
David Freund, Chief Leadership Officer

I know what you are thinking, “What has happened to Dave? Last week he was writing about needing to be liked, and this week he is telling us that contentment can kill.” Well, I am just taking you on my growth journey week by week. This week I have been thinking about the downside of contentment. Being too content can kill your dreams, and you can kiss your better tomorrow goodbye.

Let’s back up just a bit. Everyone needs to have a dream. Everyone needs to dream for a better tomorrow. This might be for your career, your marriage, your family, or even a new car. We need to realize that an amount of discontent probably sparked the dream. Now, unless we are talking about being greedy or coveting what other people have, this is a good thing. It’s good because discontentment drives us to act. It moves us out of our comfort zone, we take some risks, and we move closer to our dream. If we are too content, we aren’t willing to put in the effort or take a risk, and nothing changes. Our contentment killed our dream.

We all need to dream, and our dreams can pop up when we least expect them. I was very happy leading a manufacturing company. Many people thought that I had achieved one of my dreams, and I suppose they were right. Others thought I had exceeded my dreams, and they were also right.  All of a sudden, it hit me. I realized that my dream changed and evolved from a dream of growing a business to a dream of helping other people grow their businesses and, even more importantly, their lives. My mind began to race as I wondered what this new dream would look like. BANG, just as quickly reality hit. “Are you really going to risk all of this for something that crazy?” Now was the time to leverage positive discontent and get moving.

Five and a half years have passed. I cannot recall one day where I regretted my change. I am so thankful that I didn’t let contentment kill my dream. Now what I need to do is cultivate healthy discontent on a regular basis to make sure I keep dreaming.

If you would like to hear more about healthy discontent and how you can move toward your dreams, please join Marisa Norcross and me for Episode 204 of The Next Page podcast. We will discuss a variety of tips and tools you can use to move toward the life of your dreams.

Listen and subscribe to The Next Page here: iTunes | Google Play | PodBean