If you try this comfort challenge, please share your experience in the comments below! I’d love to read them. It’s always a hilarious and valuable exploration of getting more comfortable with discomfort.

Here is the original text of the challenge from The 4-Hour Workweek:

Chances are good that someone—be it a co-worker, boss, customer, or significant other—does something irritating or at a subpar level. 

Rather than avoid the topic out of fear of confrontation, let’s chocolate-coat it and ask them to fix it. 

Once per day for two days, and then each Thursday (M–W is too tense and Friday is too relaxed) for the next three weeks, resolve to use what I call the Criticism Sandwich with someone. 

It’s called the Criticism Sandwich because you first praise the person for something, then deliver the criticism, and then close with topic-shifting praise to exit the sensitive topic. 

Here’s an example with a superior or boss, with keywords and phrases in italics.

You: Hi, Mara. Do you have a second?

Mara: Sure. What’s up?

You: First, I wanted to thank you for helping me with the Meelie Worm account [or whatever]. I really appreciate you showing me how to handle that. You’re really good at fixing the technical issues.

Mara: No problem.

You: Here’s the thing. There is a lot of work coming down on everyone, and I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed. Normally, priorities are really clear to me, but I’ve been having trouble recently figuring out which tasks are highest on the list. Could you help me by pointing out the most important items when a handful need to be done? I’m sure it’s just me, but I’d really appreciate it, and I think it would help.

Mara: Uhh . . . I’ll see what I can do.

You: That means a lot to me. Thanks. Before I forget, last week’s presentation was excellent.

Mara: Did you think so? Blah, blah, blah . . .

If you try this comfort challenge, please share your experience in the comments below! I’d love to read them. It’s always a hilarious and valuable exploration of getting more comfortable with discomfort.

The post Comfort Challenge #5: Use the Criticism Sandwich appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

If you try this comfort challenge, please share your experience in the comments below! I’d love to read them. It’s always a hilarious and valuable exploration of getting more comfortable with discomfort.

Note: Due to concerns about the coronavirus, we are skipping Comfort Challenge #3 (“Get Phone Numbers”), and we are going directly to Comfort Challenge #4 (“Revisit the Terrible Twos”).

Here is the original text of the challenge from The 4-Hour Workweek:

For the next two days, do as all good two-year-olds do and say “no” to all requests. Don’t be selective. Refuse to do all things that won’t get you immediately fired. Be selfish. The objective isn’t an outcome—in this case, eliminating just those things that waste time—but the process: getting comfortable with saying “no.” Potential questions to decline include the following:

Do you have a minute?

Want to see a movie tonight/tomorrow?

Can you help me with X?

“No” should be your default answer to all requests. Don’t make up elaborate lies or you’ll get called on them. A simple “I really can’t—sorry; I’ve got too much on my plate right now” will do as a catch-all response.

If you try this comfort challenge, please share your experience in the comments below! I’d love to read them. It’s always a hilarious and valuable exploration of getting more comfortable with discomfort.

The post Comfort Challenge #4: Revisit the Terrible Twos appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

If you try this comfort challenge, please share your experience in the comments below! I’d love to read them. It’s always a hilarious and valuable exploration of getting more comfortable with discomfort.

Here is the original text of the challenge from The 4-Hour Workweek:

Stop asking for opinions and start proposing solutions. Begin with the small things. If someone is going to ask, or asks, “Where should we eat?” “What movie should we watch?” “What should we do tonight?” or anything similar, do NOT reflect it back with, “Well, what do you want to . . . ?” Offer a solution. Stop the back-and-forth and make a decision. Practice this in both personal and professional environments. Here are a few lines that help (my favorites are the first and last):

“May I make a suggestion?”

“I propose . . .”

“I’d like to propose . . .”

“I suggest that . . . What do you think?”

“Let’s try . . . and then try something else if that doesn’t work.”

If you try this comfort challenge, please share your experience in the comments below! I’d love to read them. It’s always a hilarious and valuable exploration of getting more comfortable with discomfort.

The post Comfort Challenge #2: Learn to Propose appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

If you try this comfort challenge, please share your experience in the comments below! I’d love to read them. It’s always a hilarious and valuable exploration of getting more comfortable with discomfort.

Here is the original text of the challenge from The 4-Hour Workweek:

My friend Michael Ellsberg invented a singles event called Eye Gazing. It is similar to speed dating but different in one fundamental respect—no speaking is permitted. It involves gazing into the eyes of each partner for three minutes at a time. If you go to such an event, it becomes clear how uncomfortable most people are doing this. For the next two days, practice gazing into the eyes of others—whether people you pass on the street or conversational partners—until they break contact.

Hints:

1. Focus on one eye and be sure to blink occasionally so you don’t look like a psychopath or get your ass kicked.

2. In conversation, maintain eye contact when you are speaking. It’s easy to do while listening.

3. Practice with people bigger or more confident than yourself. If a passerby asks you what the hell you’re staring at, just smile and respond, “Sorry about that. I thought you were an old friend of mine.”

If you try this comfort challenge, please share your experience in the comments below! I’d love to read them. It’s always a hilarious and valuable exploration of getting more comfortable with discomfort.

The post Comfort Challenge #1: Learn to Eye Gaze appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.