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I know we have all heard that staying in our comfort zone is the recipe for disaster, if not mediocrity.
And this mediocrity affects our personal and business life.
This past week I was listening to a trainer who referred to a schematic that I had not seen before.
It resonated with me because in our business model we have always referred to the fact that we have to get out of our comfort zone to build the business.
Mainly, because we have to overcome our issues with networking and talking to people, promoting our business, facing rejection, scorn and even ridicule, and so on.
But this schematic stuck with me because I realized that staying in our comfort zone meant that there was no learning and no growth for us.
And the thing keeping us in the comfort zone is our fear.
Fear of failure, fear of not being good enough, fear of financial loss, fear of rejection, fear of ridicule, fear of additional workload, fear of loss of friends, and many more.
And the big one – ‘fear of the unknown’ where our mind thinks up all the things that can go wrong or won’t work or aren’t even true!
Most of the time the fear is in our subconscious and arises from our belief system.
We do not really know it is fear because our excuses actually mask it.
During the session, the trainer also showed a video clip from Despicable Me 2 regarding picking up the phone and calling someone for a date. It was hilarious and so appropriate!
Listen, I know it is hard to get out of one’s comfort zone.
I was there, but I learned that I would not grow as a person unless I overcame the fear of taking that first step, making that first call, buying my first rental property, taking a risk and investing my hard earned money for the first time and so on.
Sure, there have been setbacks, but I chalked it up to learning and personal development.
I just kept moving through the fears, overcoming the inertia, and expanding my comfort zone – which by the way gave me new fears to overcome, more learning to undertake and more growth to achieve.
It is a cycle.
And once you take the first step, make the call or first connection, the fear is gone.
So there you go.
The dreaded comfort zone affects us all, but we can get past the fear that holds us back and move forward if we want to grow and live a successful life.
It takes courage and being on purpose for us to actually do it. But we are all capable of it.
I urge you to get out of your comfort zone. You will never regret it.
If you need help, I would love to talk to you about it. Please reach out to me today.
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