Embracing Discomfort: Coaching Your Clients to Wealth and Success

Do you aspire to be wealthy—meaning happy, healthy, and financially abundant—for the rest of your life?

If your answer is DUH, then here’s one critical thing you need to know: achieving more happiness, health, and financial abundance in your life requires a willingness to embrace discomfort. It’s not just about hard work or discipline—there’s neuroscience at play. The brain is wired to avoid discomfort because it triggers a stress response, but understanding and leveraging this can help you (and your clients) transform that discomfort into a stepping stone for success.

As Neuroencoding® Institute Founder Joseph McClendon III puts it: “The fact of the matter is anything that is more than the average, that is worth attaining, will usually carry with it a level of discomfort in terms of hard work or discipline.”

Why Discomfort is Key to Growth: The Neuroscience Behind It

Discomfort is often a sign that you’re stepping outside of your comfort zone and entering uncharted territory. From a neuroscientific perspective, this happens because the brain’s amygdala—the part responsible for detecting threats—lights up whenever we face unfamiliar challenges. Whether it’s a new fitness routine, a tough business decision, or any leap toward success, the brain can interpret these as potential threats, triggering a stress response. This is why discomfort can feel unpleasant; it’s your brain’s way of trying to keep you safe by steering you back toward the familiar.

However, it’s in this very space of discomfort where growth happens. The brain, due to its ability to change and adapt (thanks to neuroplasticity), can rewire itself to handle new challenges. Every time you confront discomfort, you’re creating new neural pathways that reinforce resilience, discipline, and even creativity. The more often you push past your comfort zone, the easier it becomes, as these pathways become stronger and more efficient over time.

When your clients face discomfort in the pursuit of wealth—whether it’s taking a financial risk, embracing a healthier lifestyle, or committing to personal growth—it’s essential for them to understand that this discomfort is not a signal to retreat. Rather, it’s the brain’s way of signaling that they’re entering a space where transformation is possible. In essence, the willingness to face discomfort is an invitation to rewire the brain for success.

The Brain’s Reward System: Why Discomfort Leads to Abundance

What’s fascinating is that after moving through discomfort, the brain often rewards us. Once you’ve stepped through the initial pain or fear and accomplished something new, your brain releases dopamine, a feel-good chemical associated with the reward system. Dopamine doesn’t just make you feel good—it reinforces behaviors, motivating you to repeat them.

For example, when your clients push through the discomfort of waking up early to exercise or take on a challenging task at work, their brain rewards them with a sense of accomplishment. Over time, as they repeat these behaviors, the brain begins to associate discomfort with eventual rewards, making it easier to face those challenges in the future. In other words, they start building a positive feedback loop where discomfort becomes a signal not of pain, but of progress.

How to Help Your Clients Embrace Discomfort on Their Path to Wealth

As a coach, your role is pivotal in helping your clients embrace discomfort as a necessary and valuable part of their journey to wealth and success. Here’s how you can leverage neuroscience to support them in this process:

1. Reframe Discomfort as a Growth Signal: Help your clients shift their perspective. Instead of seeing discomfort as something to avoid, encourage them to view it as a signal that they are growing. When the brain perceives discomfort as a pathway to success rather than danger, it becomes easier to manage.
2. Break It Down into Manageable Steps: The brain can be overwhelmed by large, uncomfortable goals. Help your clients break down their big goals into smaller, more manageable steps. By facing small doses of discomfort regularly, they will start to build resilience without feeling paralyzed by fear.
3. Celebrate Wins to Boost Dopamine: Each time your clients push past discomfort, make sure they celebrate their progress. Acknowledge even small victories because this triggers dopamine release, which reinforces the behavior and encourages them to keep moving forward.
4. Create Accountability: Having someone to keep your clients accountable (like you, their coach) helps the brain overcome its natural desire to retreat from discomfort. Social connection and external encouragement stimulate the brain’s reward systems, making it more likely that they’ll continue taking action, even when it’s tough.
5. Teach Mindfulness and Stress Regulation: Since discomfort triggers the brain’s stress response, teach your clients mindfulness techniques like deep breathing or visualization to calm their nervous system. This helps reduce the stress response, allowing them to think clearly and face challenges with less emotional reactivity.

To achieve true wealth—happiness, health, and financial abundance—your clients must understand that discomfort is not the enemy. It’s a signal that they’re doing something worthwhile. Just as muscles grow stronger after being challenged, the brain builds resilience, discipline, and new neural pathways when it faces and overcomes discomfort.