It doesn't have to be rock climbing, but it might feel that way at the start!

When you're looking to make changes in your life and you wonder how you're going to do it... challenge yourself to do one "uncomfortable" thing per day, and watch what happens.

For example, today it might be a phone call to a senior leader whom you feel uncomfortable calling. Normally you'd pass it off to someone else, but what happens if you take it on as your uncomfortable item for the day and you do it?

Earlier this summer I embarked on a Journey of 100 Days to get myself in the best shape of my life in mind, body, and spirit. There was no pressing reason. I just woke up one morning and said, “Why not?” And what I've done each day -- from lifting increasingly heavier weights to committing to a meditation practice -- has been uncomfortable.

But I know from my own past experience, as well as from what I hear from clients and friends, that when we start doing something that causes some mental discomfort -- assuming what we're doing is for the good -- if we stick with it, miracles happen.

Several years ago, a woman I know, who was 66 at the time, started running casually on weekends because her doctor suggested she needed more exercise as she was growing older. A few months later she ran her first marathon.  That was 7 years ago and she's still crossing the finish line of the New York Marathon, the San Francisco Marathon, the Seattle Marathon -- and those are only a few of the 30 or so she's completed -- yes, all 26.2 miles -- since then. Her life has transformed out of that. I've been on this 100-day journey and I'm working less, accomplishing more, and feeling happy and at peace. And I'm not done yet! Who knew?

What if you set up a challenge for yourself by doing just one uncomfortable thing per day, and stuck to it over a period of 30 days? It doesn't have to be marathon training, a journey of 100 days, or rock climbing. For example, today it might be that phone call to a senior leader, or anything for that matter where you get that "Oh no, not that" feeling. What will you have accomplished at the end of those 30 days? And what uncomfortable things will then have naturally become easy?

Share your thoughts on this note today on my Journey of 100 Days blog.

(C) 2009 Denise Brouillette, San Francisco, CA. All Rights Reserved.

Denise Brouillette is the president of The Innovative Edge LLC and The Women's Edge in Leading.