Out of your Comfort Zone

 

With everything that is happening in the economy, many of us, through no fault of our own, are finding ourselves well and truly outside our comfort zones.

In the past we had a choice. We could either stick with what we knew, our habits, our routines, everything that rested inside our comfort zones, or we could expand our comfort zone by setting some stretch goals. Those days are gone. Today, if you want to keep your job, keep your business afloat or even keep the roof above your head, you have to step outside your comfort zone.

When we are operating within our comfort zone, everything is relatively easy. We are certain about what we are doing. For example, if you have been driving for a few years, you can get behind the wheel and drive competently but almost unconsciously, because how to drive is a habit you have learned and one you are well practiced at.

When we are outside our comfort zones, we are self conscious, nervous and unsure as to what we are doing. For example, think back to when you were learning to drive, everything was done much more purposefully, handbrake, mirror, indicators etc.

Your comfort zone is bordered by the emotions of anxiousness, worry, nervousness even fear. You know you are moving to the edge and beyond of your comfort zone when you feel these emotions.

Everything that you have done, achieved or created in your life up to this point, is now within your comfort zone.

The recession has thrown most of us way outside our comfort zones. The old habits and routines are no longer enough. In the past business might have flowed to you, now you have to go out and seek it. In the past, you could get away with not pulling your weight, now that won’t be tolerated; you have to be seen to add value.

Stepping over the line

I use the phrase ‘stepping over the line,’ to describe moving beyond the comfort zone. On this side of the line, within our comfort zone are all the habits and routines we have built up over time. On the far side of the line, beyond the nervousness and fear, lies new learning, new solutions and in today’s climate, economic survival. How often do we set out with the greatest of intentions, but when fear and worry pop up, when we reach the border of our comfort zone, we turn back, rather than acknowledging the nervousness, but still stepping over the line.

If you are going to rationalise taking action to move outside your comfort zone, you have three choices.

1. Firstly, you have to associate more pleasure or benefit with taking a new action than in maintaining the status quo. To put it another way, if you have not taken action to make changes in your life or in your work up to now, it is because you associate more discomfort with taking action than you do with maintaining the status quo. For example, it is more uncomfortable to exercise and eat more healthily than it is to suffer the guilt of having over eaten or how you feel when you look in the mirror.

2. Secondly, you realise that you cannot continue doing what you are doing. For example, many firms are taking the unsavoury action of letting staff go, so they may continue to survive long term.

3. Lastly, you realise that you have no choice but to move forward. For example, at a recent seminar I ran, one woman said how she had resisted learning to drive for years. She didn’t really need to because her husband could drive her. But then her husband died. She now had no choice. If she wanted to be independently mobile she had to learn how to drive. The discomfort of learning to drive was less than the discomfort of being stuck at home or being dependent on public transport.

When we are seeking to do something new, we will always have to battle against the habits we are created over the years.

As humans we are habit forming creatures. Habits develop into routines and sometimes routines develop into ruts. We have to take action consciously otherwise we continue to think and act in accordance with our habits.

10 powerful questions to help you ‘step over the line,’ to move beyond the limitations of your comfort zone.

• 1. What will you be sacrificing if you just keep doing what you are doing?
• 2. How has being ‘realistic’ or ‘responsible’ kept you from the life you want?
• 3. How has doing what you ‘should’ resulted in your expectations not being met?
• 4. If you keep doing what you are currently doing what will your life be like in five years time?
• 5. What are the benefits of having things just the way they are?
• 6. In what ways do you hold yourself back from trying something new?
• 7. For what reason have you been settling for less?
• 8. What is on the far side of your worry, anxiousness or fear?
• 9. What gifts are awaiting you outside of your comfort zone?
• 10. How can you get more comfortable with being uncomfortable?

When you are trying something new, know that you will feel anxious, worried, nervous and even afraid. This is just part of the deal. You are stepping outside of your comfort zone and these are the emotions that go with it. You will never feel certain about what it is you are doing when you have not done it before.

Nothing great was ever achieved by people staying within their comfort zones.

Today, we may not have a choice about moving beyond our comfort zones, but maybe that is a good thing because new opportunities, learning, new solutions and everything we are capable of areonly found outside our comfort zones.

 

 

Seeking to give yourself an injection of Self Confidence, check out my new CD '15 Ways to Boost your Self Confidence.'

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