Hope in the Hard Stuff – Why Purpose is Born Through Discomfort (S4) S30:E4

Welcome to another transformative episode of the Inspirations for Your Life Podcast! I’m your host, John C. Morley, and today we’re diving deep into a universal truth that’s often overlooked: purpose is not born in comfort—it is carved out in the trenches of discomfort. Whether it's a moment of failure, heartbreak, rejection, or uncertainty, it’s within those trying experiences that we discover who we truly are—and more importantly—what we’re meant to do. Buckle up, because today we’re embracing discomfort, not as a curse, but as the catalyst that propels us into powerful purpose. 💥

1️⃣ Discomfort often signals growth is near. When you feel the tension, the unease, or the friction in your life, it’s a signal that transformation is right around the corner. Discomfort is not the enemy—it’s often the alarm clock for growth. Like muscles tearing before rebuilding stronger, discomfort stretches us so we can expand into our next version.

2️⃣ Challenges force us to find inner strength. It’s easy to coast when life is easy, but when a challenge arises, we’re called to tap into a part of ourselves we may have forgotten or never even knew existed. True strength doesn’t show up in comfort—it’s revealed in the battle. That’s where courage is born and confidence is built.

3️⃣ Pain reveals what truly matters to us. When you're hurting, you're paying attention. Pain strips away the superficial and brings your focus to what’s real, raw, and essential. It forces you to ask, “What do I value? What do I care about?” And the answers to those questions often lead straight to purpose.

4️⃣ Purpose emerges from overcoming adversity. It’s not what knocks you down that defines you—it’s what you do after. Overcoming adversity gives your story meaning and inspires others. Those hard-earned lessons often become the message you’re meant to share with the world.

5️⃣ Struggles give meaning to our journey. Life without struggle would be flat and flavorless. The ups and downs, the trials and triumphs—that’s what makes the journey rich. Purpose isn't about avoiding hardship; it’s about finding meaning within it and letting it guide you.

6️⃣ Discomfort pushes us out of complacency. We all fall into routines. But comfort zones are where dreams go to die. Discomfort shakes us up and says, “You were made for more.” It ignites the fire to change, improve, and chase what sets our soul on fire.

7️⃣ True resilience is built in hardship. You don’t learn resilience from a textbook. It’s learned on the battlefield of life. When life knocks you down repeatedly, and you get up stronger each time—that’s resilience. And with resilience comes purpose, because you’ve proven to yourself that you can endure and evolve.

8️⃣ The path to purpose is rarely comfortable. People think purpose is a peaceful, clear path. It’s not. It’s messy. It’s filled with fear, failure, and friction. But that discomfort is what shapes your character and clarifies your mission. If it were easy, everyone would be living their purpose.

9️⃣ Failure teaches us direction—not defeat. Failure isn’t the end—it’s redirection. When something doesn’t work, it nudges us closer to what will. It’s a data point, not a death sentence. And every failure contains feedback that’s essential for discovering your purpose.

🔟 Breakdowns often lead to breakthroughs. You can’t rebuild what’s not broken. Often, it’s in the breakdown—when everything falls apart—that a new vision is born. Breakdowns are the turning points that crack us open so light can get in. On the other side is often the breakthrough you never saw coming.

1️⃣1️⃣ Purpose isn't found in ease—it's forged in fire. Your purpose is not waiting for you on a beach with a drink in hand—it’s found in the fire of life’s toughest trials. Just like metal is refined in heat, your calling is shaped through friction. Fire doesn’t destroy—it defines.

1️⃣2️⃣ Suffering reveals our values and vision. When you suffer, your soul starts speaking louder. What you care about becomes clearer. That suffering, while painful, helps you strip away the noise and focus on the vision you're meant to pursue and the values you want to live by.

1️⃣3️⃣ Obstacles refine, not define us. The things that get in our way aren’t there to stop us—they're there to shape us. Every obstacle is a sculptor’s chisel, carving away the unnecessary to reveal the masterpiece within. Let the challenge refine you, not reduce you.

1️⃣4️⃣ Comfort zones are creativity killers. Purpose often demands innovation—and innovation thrives in risk, not routine. When you're too comfortable, your mind stays lazy. Discomfort, on the other hand, demands creativity, new thinking, and courageous action.

1️⃣5️⃣ When you embrace discomfort, purpose follows. Stop running from discomfort—start leaning into it. When you do, you begin to see discomfort not as something to avoid, but as the guide toward your missi

Episode Transcript

(00:14):
Hey, guys.
Good evening.
It is John C.
Morley here, serial entrepreneur.
It's great to be with you on Inspirations
for Your Life this evening.
It is, that is, what is it, Tuesday,

(00:34):
July 22nd, 2025.
Welcome to the show.
If this is your first time being with
me, well, I would like to welcome you
here personally, from the bottom of my heart.
If you're coming back, well, I definitely would
like to say welcome back.
It's always great to have fellow friends, family,
colleagues that really appreciate the quality of my
content and hopefully choose to apply it to

(00:56):
their life to make it even better.
All right, friends, if you haven't heard about
BelieveMeAchieved.com, what are you waiting for?
Go check it out after the show, not
now.
If any of you guys are thirsty, I
just had dinner a little while ago, feel
free to get yourself something to eat, something
to drink, maybe a snack, maybe some fruit,
and get comfortable, cozy up here, and listen

(01:19):
to the show, because I think you guys
are going to really enjoy the show.
The master topic, that is the master topic
for this entire week, in case you guys
are wondering what that was, well, I'm going
to tell you.
The power of presence.
How slowing down awakens what matters most.
And I think that's something that a lot

(01:40):
of people have a hard time with, because
they don't realize that they have, well, that
type of power, right?
I think that's a big thing for a
lot of people.
They don't realize that they have that kind
of power.
And today's granular topic is, well, hope and
the hard stuff, why purpose is born through
discomfort.

(02:01):
Series four, show 30, episode number four.
Now, I know what a lot of you
are saying, hey, John, why does it always
have to be uncomfortable?
Well, I got to tell you something, success
actually brews where it is uncomfortable.
Yeah, so just get over that.
All right, so I'd like to again formally

(02:21):
welcome everyone to another transformational episode of, yes,
the Inspirations for Your Life podcast.
I am your host, podcast coach, serial entrepreneur,
video producer, engineer, graduate student, and much more.
I'm John C.
Morley, and tonight I'm diving very deep into

(02:44):
a universal truth that's often overlooked.
Purpose is not born in comfort.
It is carved out in the trenches of
discomfort, whether it's a moment of failure, heartbreak,
rejection, or possibly uncertainty.
It's within those trying experiences of our life
that we discover who we truly are, and

(03:08):
more importantly, why we're meant to do.
Buckle up.
It's going to be a little rough tonight,
because I'm going to be helping you embrace
discomfort, not as a curse, but as a
catalyst that will hopefully propel us all forward
into powerful purpose.
I think a lot of people get scared

(03:28):
when they hear about the word discomfort, like
they want to just go run for the
hills, but that's not the right thing to
do.
Number one, discomfort often signals growth is near.
Yes, it does.
When you feel the tension, the unease, or
the friction in your life, it's a signal
that transformation is right around the corner.
Discomfort is not the enemy, folks.

(03:48):
It's often the alarm clock for growth, like,
well, muscles, you know, that kind of tear
and break down when you work them out
before they can rebuild stronger.
They have to first tear, and discomfort stretches
us so we can expand into, well, our
next version of ourselves, but a lot of

(04:09):
people are fearful because they don't like that
there's discomfort.
I won't call it pain.
I'll call it discomfort, right, and nobody likes
discomfort, so they want to, like, stay away
from it, hedge it.
Number two, challenges force us to find an
inner strong strength.

(04:30):
It's easy to coast when life is easy,
but when a challenge arises, we're called to
tap into a part of ourselves we may
have forgotten or never even knew existed.
True strength doesn't show up in comfort.
It's revealed in battle, and that's what courage
is born from and confidence is built upon.

(04:52):
Number three, discomfort.
Some people call it pain.
I'm going to call it discomfort.
It reveals what truly matters to us.
When you're hurting, you're paying attention.
Pain strips away the superficial and brings your
focus to what's real, raw, and essential for
your life.

(05:13):
It forces you to ask, what do I
value?
What do I care about?
And the answers to these specific questions often
lead straight to, yes, your purpose, which also
comes from, ladies and gentlemen, your core values.
That's right, your core values.

(05:35):
Number four, purpose emerges from overcoming adversity.
There's a powerful word.
It's not what knocks you down that defines
you.
It's what you do after you get down,
right?
We've talked some of the biggest fighters out
there, and it doesn't matter how many times
they get down.
As long as they get back up again,
overcoming adversity gives your story some meaning and

(05:57):
inspires others to start living theirs.
Those hard-earned lessons often become the message
you're meant to share with the world.
Number five, struggles give meaning to our journey.
Life without struggle will be flat and flavorless.

(06:21):
The ups, the downs, the trials, and the
triumphs, that's what makes the journey rich.
Purpose isn't about avoiding hardship.
It's about finding meaning within it and letting
it guide you.
That's pretty cool.
Number six, discomfort pushes us out of complacency,

(06:44):
right?
The mediocrity, the fact that we're comfortable.
We all fall into routines, but comfortable zones
are where dreams, well, unfortunately, they go to
die.
Discomfort shakes us up and says, hey, you
were made for more.
You were made for greatness.
It ignites the fire within our heart that

(07:10):
lets us do more to improve and to
chase what is putting our soul on fire.
Now, I'm not going to tell you that
it's just going to be handed to you
because it's not.
You're going to have to want this.
True resilience is built in hardship.

(07:30):
You don't learn resilience from a textbook.
It's learned on the battlefield of life.
When life knocks you down repeatedly and you
get up stronger each time, that resilience becomes
your strength and is now born.
And with resilience, comes purpose because you've proven

(07:55):
to yourself that you can endure and evolve.
The path to purpose is rarely comfortable, so
don't expect a nice comfy chair.
People think purpose is a peaceful, clear path.
It's not.
It's messy.
It's filled with fear, failure, and friction.

(08:17):
But that discomfort is what shapes your character
and clarifies your mission.
If it were easy, everyone would be living
their purpose.
Failure teaches us direction, not defeat.
Failure isn't the end, folks.
It's just a redirection.

(08:38):
When something doesn't work, it nudges us closer
to what will eventually work.
It's a data point, right?
It's not the end.
And every failure contains feedback that's essential for
discovering and rediscovering what our purpose is.

(09:01):
And I think that's something that a lot
of people, again, they hedge away from it.
They're scared of it.
They don't know.
They don't really know, like, what it is.
Is that important?
I think so.
Number 10, breakdowns often lead to breakthroughs.

(09:27):
You can't rebuild what's not broken.
Often it's in the breakdown when everything falls
apart.
But a new vision is born.
Breakdowns are the turning points that crack us
open so light can get in.
On the other side is often the breakthrough

(09:47):
you never saw coming.
Number 11, purpose isn't found in ease.
It's forged in a fire.
Your purpose is not waiting for you on
a beach with a drink in hand.
It's found in the fire of life.

(10:10):
The toughest trials.
Just like mental is refined in heat, your
calling is shaped through friction.
Fire doesn't destroy.
It defines.
And I think that sometimes when people feel
it's hot, they don't realize that they can
manage the temperature.
That they can deal with it.

(10:31):
That they can use it as a growth
stone.
Number 12, suffering reveals our true values and
vision from the core.
When you suffer, your soul starts speaking louder.
What you care about becomes clearer.
That suffering, while painful, helps you strip away

(10:52):
the noise and the focus on the vision
you're meant to pursue.
And the values you want to live by.
Number 13, obstacles refine, not define us.
The things that get in our way aren't
there to stop us, folks.

(11:13):
They're there to shape us, redirect us.
Every obstacle is a sculptor's chisel, carving away
the necessary elements and debris to reveal that
Picasso, that masterpiece within us.
Let the challenge refine you, not reduce you.

(11:38):
Number 14, comfort zones are creativity killers.
Purpose often demands innovation.
And innovation thrives in risk, not routine.
When you're too comfortable, your mind stays lazy.
Discomfort, on the other hand, demands creativity, new

(11:58):
thinking, and courageous action.
Number 15, when you embrace discomfort, purpose follows.
Stop running from discomfort.
Start leaning into it.
When you do, you begin to see discomfort
not as something to avoid, but as the
guide toward your mission.

(12:20):
Purpose isn't hiding from you.
It's waiting just beyond what you're afraid to
feel.
And, you know, a lot of people I've
talked to, and they don't achieve success, they
had the opportunity, but they don't want to.
You know why they don't want to?
They're afraid of not only failure.

(12:43):
They're afraid, guys, of success.
That's right.
They're afraid of success.
Here's the part of the show, guys, I
really love a lot.
Well, I love the whole show, but I
love this part.
So I'm going to give you, basically, a
personal story of mine or lesson, one for
each point I shared tonight.

(13:06):
And I'm hoping that this is going to
ignite a fire under you.
It's going to get you to see that,
hey, you know what?
I do have more potential.
I can actually do this.
Hey, I believe in myself.
That's the very first part, guys.

(13:26):
You've got to believe in yourself every single
time.
You have to believe in yourself.
If you don't believe in yourself, no one's
going to believe in you.
No one is going to believe in you.
And that might sound a little bit crazy,

(13:51):
but it's the truth, right?
It is the truth.
And I think the truth is going to
set us free if we acknowledge it.
So I want to give you, like I

(14:12):
said, a personal lesson or story for each
point tonight.
And I'm hoping that you will embrace these,
that it will ignite a fire in you.
It will get you to see the true

(14:32):
value that you haven't been given credit.
Maybe other people were knocking you down, right?
Maybe you had the potential along, but you
never really, really took the ball and ran
with it because everyone else said you don't
belong as a quarterback or as a basketball

(14:53):
player or as a sports person.
You don't belong because you don't know what
you're doing.
Well, you know, you hear that enough.
You know what's going to happen?
Well, it's going to be a problem for
a lot of people, right?

(15:15):
It's going to be a very, very big
problem.
And I'm hoping that you guys can embrace
that, right?
When somebody tells you you can't do something,
what do you guys do?
Do you go away?
Or do you think about it?

(15:40):
So by me giving you a personal story
or lesson tonight, one for basically each point,
I think it will not only transform you,
but it will help you to realize that
you can do these things if you just

(16:05):
start to believe.
You know, Macy's has had this slogan, I
think for many years, I think they still
have it.
Christmas is the magic of believing.
Now, it's not an accident that I picked
BelieveMeAchieve.com.
There were many times I didn't achieve things
when I was younger, and it was all

(16:25):
because of one thing.
You know what that was?
My belief.
So if we get you to change just
one thing, right, just one thing in your
life, just that one thing, I think your
life could really, really, really, really change.
But you have to do this with true

(16:50):
intention.
You can't say, well, gee, you know, I
believe, but then you really don't believe, right?
I think that's a real mess, right?
Because if you say to yourself you believe,
but then on the inside, you're telling yourself,
well, I don't believe, right?
Like, that's not walking the walk and talking

(17:14):
the talk, right?
That's talking the talk, but if you don't
walk the walk, what happens?
It's like nobody works.
No part of your body decides to do
anything because it doesn't think you're worthy.
Discomfort often comes, well, in a time that
will signal growth is new.

(17:36):
A few years ago, I had left a
project to pursue an even bigger project, but
initially, the contract rate for the client was
a lot lower on this bigger project, but
aligned more with my interest and my intentions.

(17:56):
It was just flipping a client for another
client.
The first few weeks were a little bit
rough because I was uncomfortable, unsure, and questioning
my decisions daily.
The comfort of knowing that one project had
a steady bill rate that our company was
able to bill every single week was great.
This one was not so secure.

(18:19):
Some weeks it would bill, some weeks it
wouldn't, so the comfort kind of disappeared, and
so that was replaced, the comfort, by some
sleepless nights and some self-doubt, but in
that friction, something inside me began to wake

(18:41):
up and say, hey, you know what, John?
I now can learn faster.
I can network more.
I can realize I have more skills than
anyone ever said.
The discomfort was the signpost for transformation, but
I didn't like discomfort.
I was afraid of discomfort.

(19:01):
I had built my own client base and
started thriving in space I truly cared about,
and I never wanted to lose a client,
but there's sometimes when a relationship is not
meant to continue.
Not nice to say, but that can happen
sometimes.
You know, two people, they grow apart.
I remember one of my professors at college

(19:23):
didn't use the word that the couple got
a divorce.
They said they got uncoupled, and I thought
that was such a very polite way of
saying they got a divorce, right, so challenges
forced us to find, well, that inner strength.
I remember the day.

(19:44):
I was in my car.
This was a while ago, and for whatever
reason, I wasn't paying attention to the gas
gauge, and I always figured I could milk
it a little bit more, and I was
about maybe a couple miles from a gas

(20:05):
station, and roadside assistance was so swamped that
they weren't getting there anytime soon.
I felt stranded even though I wasn't like
in the middle of nowhere, yet everyone was
too busy to help me.
At that moment, I had two choices, panic
or figure out a plan, so I walked

(20:27):
to the nearest gas station.
I didn't even have a can to put
the gas in.
I met somebody there.
I wound up buying this plastic gas can,
filling it with just enough, going back to
my car to fill it enough so I
could come down and buy the gas.

(20:48):
Now, they told me they don't take the
gas cans back, but because there was still
some gas in it, he was willing to
take the can back.
I made it home a little bit exhausted,
but I was empowered that evening because I
made a decision that got me out of
a bind.
That challenge showed me I had more resilience

(21:09):
than I believed I did.
We don't really know our strengths until we're
forced to use them.
Comfort never would have been introduced to me
if I hadn't changed.
Comfort wouldn't have brought me the solution.

(21:30):
Now, when life throws me a curveball or
some lemons, well, I make it a straight
ball, and I turn them into lemonade.
I remember that I had met my inner
strength before, and now I can meet it
again and again.
You see, people yap, yap, yap with their

(21:52):
mouth, but they don't know you.
They don't know your skills.
They don't know what you can do.
People just like to yap, yap, yap, yap,
yap, yap, yap.
Discomfort and pain reveals what truly matters to
us.
After a, let's say, disruption with one of

(22:16):
my businesses around the COVID time, got a
little blindsided.
I spent some weeks in some emotional challenges
wondering what I was going to do.
Didn't know how I'd survive because things had
changed.
Keynotes weren't being hired back then.
I had built a little bit of, well,

(22:36):
a panic and put my identity around what
I expected, but it wasn't happening.
I was left wondering, who was I, and
where do I go from here?
That season hurt me, but it also stripped

(22:58):
away the surface distractions that many people have.
It helped me see what really matters, self
-respect, purpose, and relationships that nourish rather than
drain you.
You know the ones I mean.
You hang around people and you get recharged.
Those are great people you're around.
You hang out with other people and you
feel like you're so exhausted.

(23:19):
Those are people you don't want to be
around.
Discomfort and pain became my teacher, and through
it, I rediscovered myself in a very unique
way that I never knew was possible.
Purpose emerges from overcoming adversity.
Growing up, I struggled with some challenges.

(23:39):
One of my challenges was having a flat,
being flat-footed.
And again, not a big deal, but I
like to walk and I like to run,
and so I had to build up my
feet a little more so I could do
that.
And you know, when you hear people, oh
you don't want to do that, you're flat
-footed.

(24:00):
People put premonitions in my mind before I
even had a chance to think for myself.
The adversity became the fuel for something bigger.
I began realizing that I could be the
height, that I could do other things.
What once felt like my greatest weakness became
the source of my true purpose in life.

(24:27):
Struggles give meaning to our journey.
Many years ago, when I had tried to
launch another startup after my tech company, I
had this idea for an amazing wireless alarm
product.
Everything was fantastic, but I was so excited
about the product that I was talking to

(24:48):
everybody about it.
Talking to people before my patent application ever
got put in.
We went on TV, all these great things,
but I forgot the one thing I should
have done, which was apply for a patent.
Two weeks after we were on major TV,

(25:11):
a local store had a product very similar
to mine, and at half the price, which
was like very hard to do, but they
were taking a risk.
They see that I did all the research,
and they had the money, so they were
willing to spend a few million dollars to
get things into a production.

(25:32):
I didn't have the money to do an
assembly line.
I was just building it as I need
a couple, here and there.
The struggle is what lighted up my life,
and it felt like everything I had worked
for collapsed overnight in that one moment, but
the wreckage, I took a pause and I
reflected.

(25:53):
I realized that I learned more in those,
well, 24 months than in anything I ever
did in my life about business, people, and
most of all myself.
That struggle gave me a path very deep

(26:15):
that I never expected, and lessons I didn't
even think I needed to learn.
Discomfort pushes us out of complacency.
If you're used to living on autopilot, maybe
it's time that you change things up a
little bit, change your plans, take a different

(26:37):
route to work, you know, just change your
routine a little bit.
Leaving my comfort zone reminded me I wasn't
made for a life of just safety, but
for a life of true purpose.
Since then, I pursued passions that once scared
me, and each time discomfort was the door
I had to walk through first.

(27:00):
Resilience isn't built in hardship, right, or is
it?
It is.
During a tough, challenging point, I remember in
the very beginning years before I got really
going, I worked a couple jobs.
I'd wake up before sunrise, collapse into bed

(27:21):
after midnight, and I'd say, you know what,
this isn't the life I was meant to
live, and it changed.
Those months weren't easy or glamorous, but they
were the foundation that built John C.
Morley's Zero Entrepreneur.
They taught me how to persevere when nothing
comes easy, and that resilience is still with

(27:42):
me today.
It's the quiet strength I tap into when
life feels, oh, a little bit overwhelming.
Even in school, being back as a grad
student now and taking some very advanced math
courses can be challenging sometimes, even though I
love math.
The path to purpose is rarely comfortable, so

(28:05):
let's just accept the fact, ladies and gentlemen,
that life's got to be uncomfortable, and we
got to get used to it, because if
we do, there'll be a prize for us
to celebrate that'll be even greater than we
ever imagined.
I hope you guys have a fantastic rest
of your evening, and I'll catch you real
soon, and check out BelieveMeAchieve.com.