Are You Stuck or Are You Just Comfortable?
A king once received two young falcons as a gift.
He gave them to his finest falconer.
Within months, the first falcon was flying.
But the second falcon never moved.
It sat on the same branch every day.
The falconer tried everything.
Different techniques.
Different incentives.
Different approaches.
Nothing worked.
The bird wasn’t sick.
It wasn’t injured.
It just would not leave the branch.
The king called in healers, trainers, and wise men.
They all failed.
Then a farmer asked to try.
The next morning, the king saw both falcons soaring above the palace gardens.
He summoned the farmer.
“How did you do what no one else could?”
The farmer said:
“I cut the branch.”
The falcon wasn’t incapable.
It was comfortable.
The branch wasn’t protecting it.
It was preventing it.
And no amount of motivation was going to work while staying was still easy.
This is how you stay stuck.
Not because you are incapable.
But because the branch is still there.
The job that no longer fits but pays just enough.
The relationship that feels familiar but not alive.
The identity you’ve outgrown but still know how to perform.
The branch is rarely terrible.
It is just comfortable enough to keep you from moving.
So before asking, “What is wrong with me?” ask:
“What am I still sitting on?”
And then:
“What small branch can I cut this week?”
Not the whole tree.
Not your entire life.
Just one escape route back into the old pattern.
Because sometimes growth begins when staying becomes less convenient than moving.
The falcon was always capable of flying.
It just needed the branch to be gone first.
