Edge of the Napkin #5 Growth or Comfort … Pick One

This is an uncomfortable conversation. 

Every single day, we make choices — most of them so routine that we barely notice. How do you like your steak cooked — rare, medium, or well-done? At Thanksgiving, do you reach for the light meat or the dark? Keto or paleo? Lean muscle or bulk? Strong coffee or a lighter roast? 

They’re little decisions about taste, texture, preference. About comfort. 

But it doesn’t stop there. We choose friends who do what we do. We find partners who share our interests. We build identities around playlists, sports teams, and streaming choices. And in leadership? We double down. 

We read Start With Why. We define core values. We tell ourselves we’ll only hire people who “fit.” That isn’t wrong — but it’s dangerously easy to confuse alignment with values for simple agreement with me. 

And that’s where the trap lies: we like what feels like us. We choose sameness. We surround ourselves with comfort. 

Comfort feels good. Comfort feels safe. 

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: comfort is rarely where growth lives. 

 

Growth or Comfort … Pick One 

On this week’s napkin, the choice is stark. 

On one side: Comfort. A soft armchair, with a little “Zzz” floating above it. Safe. Restful. Easy. 

On the other side: Growth. A stick figure climbing a ladder up a mountain peak. Hard. Demanding. Stretching. 

The napkin says it plainly: Growth or Comfort … Pick One. 

You can’t sit in the chair and climb the mountain at the same time. 

 

The Three Frames 

The Kimmel suspension story that dominated headlines this week is a real-world example of how we fall into comfort instead of growth. Depending on which frame you live in, the same event looks entirely different. 

• The Right-Wing Frame (Fox, Breitbart): Kimmel crossed a line. Affiliates and ABC did the right thing. FCC Chair Brendan Carr wasn’t censoring; he was enforcing standards and protecting the public interest. Comfort here comes from order and accountability. 

• The Moderate Frame (Guardian, Variety, PBS): The unusual part wasn’t the joke but the FCC Chair’s public threats. Affiliates pulled the show first, ABC followed. The story is about pressure, timing, and precedent. Comfort here comes from process and balance. 

• The Left/Press-Freedom Frame (ACLU, WaPo, late-night peers): This was censorship by pressure. Carr’s threats created a chilling effect on free speech. Comfort here comes from defending openness and dissent. 

Three frames. Three comforts. Same facts, filtered differently. 

But here’s the thing: if we only live in the frame that feels good to us, we miss the full picture. Comfort makes us blind to growth. 

 

What Leaders Must Do 

As leaders, we face this choice every day: comfort or growth. 

• Notice the trap. Am I making this decision because it’s true, or because it feels like me? 

• Separate values from preferences. Integrity is a value. Steak rare vs. well-done? That’s preference. Don’t mistake taste for truth. 

• Invite friction. Healthy teams require dissent. Innovation comes from difference. If everyone nods in agreement, ask: What are we missing? 

• Expand your lens. Just as your media diet needs more than one frame, your leadership needs more than one perspective. 

Comfort preserves the present. Growth creates the future. 

 

Your Call to Action 

This napkin asks something hard of all of us: Growth or Comfort … Pick One. 

Where in your life are you choosing the armchair when you know you should be climbing the ladder? 
Where in your leadership are you mistaking agreement for alignment, preference for principle? 

Growth doesn’t come from what feels good. It comes from what stretches you. 

So here’s your challenge: grab a napkin, write down one place where you’ve been choosing comfort over growth, and then post it with the hashtag #PaperNapkinWisdom. 

Because the truth is — every leader, every entrepreneur, every difference-maker faces this choice. Growth or comfort. You can’t have both.