A new domain, like a foreign language or a musical instrument, can be intimidating. You may feel especially vulnerable if undertaking new challenges isn’t something you do often.

Being a beginner, or “lousy” at a sport or instrument is often frustrating at first. Don’t let this feeling deter you. It’s transient. The rewards you will reap from sticking with a goal far outweigh the discomfort you’ll feel while working toward its realization.

Let’s face it: if you’re not willing to be challenged or uncomfortable, you’re not willing to grow. If this is the case, you’re not going to evolve all that much—and neither will your business or career.

Embrace the mastery process. Make it a goal to approach new skill sets frequently enough that feeling unsure or uncomfortable becomes a new version of “comfortable” for you. When you befriend the learning experience, you welcome expansion and opportunity.

Jason, for example, has invested in golf and piano instruction for the past year. As a result, he’s more centered and creative when conceptualizing ideas and solutions to problems at work. He also has the added bonus of being able to form new business partnerships over a great game of golf. Most significantly, Jason can now apply the lessons and confidence gained from mastering these diverse capabilities into other areas of his work and life—a tremendous form of leverage.

When you train your mind to quickly assimilate new techniques with ease, your work achieves a new level of efficiency and quality. You can more readily evolve with trends and the ever-changing technological landscape because learning is now habitual for you. Staying ahead of the game is now automatic.

You can’t afford not to invest in continuous learning. It’s the bedrock of sustainable growth and success.

This article is an excerpt from the book “The Whiteboard: Go from Blank Canvas to a Productive, Leveraged, & Highly-Profitable Business” by Chris Haddon and Jason Balin. Please click here to see more.