Just ONE Thing
Comfort or Courage? The Choice That Builds (or Breaks) Your Shop
Episode 229
with Rick White, 180BIZ
Good morning. My name is Rick White from 180BIZ, and this is my *Just ONE Thing.*
We’re a coaching and training company for independent auto and truck repair shops. If you’ve got an issue and need some help, give us a holler.
What I want to talk about this morning is **COMFORT.**
I’ve talked about situational comfort and strategic comfort before. I want to dig a little bit more into what I call *situational comfort.*
A lot of times, comfort feels like stability, safety, and security—and everything like that. But a lot of times, it can actually be a mask for stagnating.
What do I mean by that?
Sometimes we use the word *comfort* to avoid tough conversations or dealing with issues or inefficiencies in the business. It’s easier just to say, “Oh, I’ll do it later,” or “It’ll get better,” or “I’m gonna wait to see what happens.”
I want you to understand that a lot of times, comfort is actually an illusion.
Comfort is actually avoidance. What you’re doing is avoiding holding your team accountable—and that has an impact day to day.
What about adjusting your pricing? Right now, things are crazy, and if you are not adequately raising your prices, any increases that you are absorbing are coming outta your hide.
And here’s the thing—it’s always safer to play small.
Than to go big to grow, right? Instead of delegating or hiring, you keep doing everything because it feels less risky. But I need you to understand that is avoidance.
So how do we do this?
You’ve got to understand—with avoidance, there are repercussions. Avoidance today becomes crisis tomorrow.
Please write that down.
*Avoidance today becomes crisis tomorrow.*
Because what happens is your problems grow. They grow with inaction. They grow with inattention—until they force you to take action, and it’s under the worst set of circumstances.
One of my daughters had a year to move from her current location. When we talked, I said, “At 12 months, you’ve got this many options. But the more you avoid making a decision and taking action—at six months, you have this many options. At three months, you have this many options. At one month, you have this many options.”
That’s what’s going on. When you avoid, you’re actually hurting yourself because you’re cutting down on your options.
The second thing that happens with avoidance is your team morale drops. When you tolerate poor performance, the rest of your team sees it, and it makes them feel less connected to the company.
Profitability gets hurt too. When you are unable or unwilling to make those uncomfortable decisions, you are gonna hurt your business.
A lot of the burnout that you’re feeling today is because you are avoiding something you should be doing—a lot of the burnout you’re feeling today is because you’re avoiding stuff you should be dealing with.
So you’ve got to break the cycle. You’ve got to recognize that sometimes comfort can actually be fear in disguise.
And what I want you to do is reframe that discomfort as *growth.* That is critical.
What I want you to do is create structure that helps you break through that comfort—using scorecards, processes, or an accountability buddy—anything that can turn that avoidance into intentional progress.
Because here’s the thing: the typical scenario is comfort → avoidance → consequence.
What I want you to have is *courage.*
*Courage instead of comfort.*
Courage doesn’t mean that fear is gone. Courage means you push through it. It’s the decision to step into discomfort because you value progress and growth over ease.
What does this look like to you? It could look like raising your rates, having a difficult conversation with somebody, or delegating some work—but I’m telling you, this makes a difference.
So—courage versus comfort.
The second is action versus avoidance, because the reality is, whenever you start taking action—even if it’s imperfect, even if it’s not the best—it’s gonna be better than what you’re doing right now.
It’s gonna help you get clear on what you’re doing. It’s gonna help build momentum. And you’re gonna see more opportunity.
There are people that need to hear this. They need to understand that the comfort zone they think they’re in is actually the *caged zone,* where it’s getting smaller and smaller until they feel trapped.
Courage versus comfort. Action versus avoidance.
And the last part is *growth versus consequence.*
Consequences are what happen when you let life lead you. Growth is what happens when you lead your life.
Write that sucker down.
Consequences happen when you let life lead you. Growth happens when you lead your life.
So what I need you to understand is that every movement you take with courage and consistent action—it’s gonna build and grow your confidence, your capability, and your culture.
And guess what? The shop becomes stronger, and so does the owner.
Go with courage, action, and growth. Thank you, everybody.
Remember—we’ve got our *Shop Owners Round Table* the second Thursday of every month at 7:00 PM Eastern. Go to our website to figure that out.
If you’d like to get more information like this, you can check out our *Pocket Business Genius Webinar Series.*
Thank you so much. God bless. Have a great week—and go make some money.
**Bye-bye.**
