Make yourself uncomfortable

Bad ideas are like air. They’re everywhere, entering through pores, resting on shoulders like birds and demons, even venturing up noses when the coast is clear of green outcroppings. How can you avoid breathing one in and letting it rule over you for a day, a week or a lifetime? Too many people are taught that to be comfortable is to be happy. And not only that, but how comfort leads seamlessly to productivity. 

I know friends, good ones, who spend hours browsing various sites in search of the platonic desk chair. As if Plato hunched inside a tiny cubicle while Socrates prepared his quarterly performance review. They labor under the belief that comfort is a requirement for good work. It won't happen otherwise. What they’re really looking for is an upright bed, a mattress they can sit on. Why do we seek comfort when being uncomfortable is actually what drives creativity? The notion that La-Z-employees enveloped in the heavenly plushness of a cozy chair can fuel major breakthroughs is tragically overstated. 

What people need is a profound lack of comfort. Because the time for neutrality has since passed. There are no Swiss chaise lounges. Plywood seats with no shortage of splinters are very much in demand. Or metal cushions comprised of protruding rusty nails and booster shots. How about concrete sandals that are a chore to lift? Suits made of jagged bits of construction paper complemented by sandpaper hats and steel wool boutonnieres. This will create an eccentric bunch of workers, willing to do whatever it takes to do the job. Of course, it could backfire and lead to a dangerous stampede of nude troublemakers. But I never said progress comes without risk. 

Will certain segments of the working population avoid your company should they find out the level of emphasis placed on discomfort? It’s possible. What’s the alternative? To ply a generation of pampered disruptors, more used to bracing themselves for tidal waves of velvet and tsunamis of velour than ambling through the office with pebbles in their shoes? The slightest awkwardness is viewed as a deal breaker.

As a culture, we must first cultivate and ultimately fetishize discomfort. Stubbing toes, bumping funny bones and slipping on a well-placed banana peel will all go a long way towards creating a better, less comfortable world. How close to sleep does a person need to be in the workplace? If we can't keep you up during the day, what hope is there at night? 

While delicious meals are soon forgotten, nauseating ones live on forever. You never forget being sick, cursing the mussels and the obnoxious waiters, twirling their pointy mustaches as you trudge to the lavatory for another lap. The same goes for chairs. You may sink into one that’s made of half leather, half quicksand, but what sticks in your mind is the steel stool you took your SATs on. A little shaky, with a couple loose screws, you immediately identified with this overlooked piece of furniture. It was you. If I have my way and get to remake office environments as we know it, you will know that feeling again.