10 WAYS TO STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
“To move to a new level in your life, you must break through your comfort zone and do things that are not comfortable.” -T. Harv Eker
The comfort zone is a safe space where we don’t risk, but neither do we grow. It’s also a place in which you feel comfortable and in which your ability and determination are not being tested. The comfort zone could be in your house, be it your sofa, bedroom, or game room, or it can be anywhere at all. It’s where you prefer to stay instead of going out to explore the world, fulfilling your purpose on this Earth. Not only is it a physical space but it’s a mental concept, as well. It’s not limited to a secure cord we’ve built around us but involves both our daily routines and way of thinking. Therefore, it can become the perfect excuse not to do, not risk, not grow, and ultimately, not live.
Sign That You’re Stuck in Your Comfort Zone
We are often accustomed to our habits and lifestyle in our comfort zone that we don’t realize how much they limit our possibilities to grow. When you realize that you aren’t learning anything new because you’re too comfortable in your current state and may end up feeling empty and unfulfilled deep down, this is a sign that you may be stuck in your comfort zone.
“We can not become what we want to be, remaining in what we are today.” – Max DePree
Having the courage to step outside your comfort zone is the main way in which we grow. However, we are often afraid to take the first step. In actuality, comfort zones are not about comfort, they’re all about the fear of getting out of the long cycle we have built and relied on for years. Once you break out of this cycle, you will learn to enjoy the process of growing, taking risks, and adding color to your life.
Here Are 10 Ways to Help You Leave Your Comfort Zone and Get Closer to Success:
1. Write Down Your Goals
Figure out the direction you want your life to move by making a list of all your goals in a notebook or journal. Revisit your list of goals every day, and remind yourself why you want to achieve them. It’s also important to be aware of the key challenges you may face and to ask yourself what you can do to overcome them.
2. Prepare Your Environment for Success
Your environment may either help or delay your path to your definition of success. It’s important to surround yourself with an environment that will support your growth and progress. A way to start this is to by removing factors from your life that make it easy for you to make excuses. In other words, try to avoid procrastinating your goals, and instead, start now and prepare ahead of time. Building a sense of self-motivation and self-discipline and mentally preparing yourself for growth will also help you achieve your goals. In addition, once you have an idea of what’s in and out of your comfort zone, prepare to take action.
3. Take Small Steps Out of Your Comfort Zone
Avoid rushing out of your comfort zone in one go, or you may likely feel overwhelmed and find yourself quickly returning to your comfort zone. Instead, take small steps toward the fear you want to overcome. For example, if you struggle with shyness, you may start stepping out of your comfort zone by greeting a person each day. You may then work your way up by complimenting a person each day, then conversing with one to two people, etc. To encourage getting out of your comfort zone, you can listen to stories of those who overcame their past fears, you can attend motivational seminars, and can focus on striving toward the goals you want to achieve.
4. Enjoy the Experience
While becoming more familiar outside your comfort zone is a good thing, it’s important not to purposely take part in activities that will mentally harm or are emotionally taxing to you. It’s nice to be in your comfort zone, but leaving your comfort zone more often for new experiences allows you to grow and change, which is important for life in general. Having these new experiences help balances your comfort zone and helps you to achieve your goals. You should not leave your comfort zone all the time, just as you should not stay comfortable all the time. It’s important to enjoy having fun in ways you never knew you could, as well as the fun of discovering more about yourself that you may not have already known. The activity you do out of your comfort zone should interest you and is also one that is outside of your usual activities.
5. Stay Positive
Staying positive during the times you feel uncomfortable can make all the difference in your life. Stepping out of your comfort zone can be scary, but you must always be positive. We can be quick to take ourselves seriously and put ourselves down if things don’t go our way when stepping out of our comfort zones. However, this feeling of discomfort and this change is necessary for success. Failure should not be something you should fear. It is important to try your best and allow yourself to grow as a person. Celebrate your achievements and your progress in every step you take. Rather than focusing on setbacks, be proud of yourself for who you are becoming, and maintain a positive attitude throughout.
6. Figure Out the Person You Want to Be
A goal is not about the accomplishment, it’s about the person you become from those achievements. Every goal you make requires a newer version of you to show up— a new identity of you. Be aware of your current identity, and then ask yourself this each morning you get out of bed: Who do I want to become? Be mindful of the qualities of the person you strive to be. See yourself today, and begin behaving as the person you wish to become tomorrow.
7. Develop a Confidence and Growth Mindset
Accept and understand that you can make it happen. This can be difficult for some to believe, however. Some feel that you must feel ready to engage in activities that you want to do, or that you must build confidence first to do the things that scare you. However, this feeling may encourage you to postpone your goals for longer. Stepping out of your comfort zone will lead you to build confidence rather than the other way around. This also allows for a growth mindset. Find ideas that can help you figure things out, and once you take one small action in the right direction of your goal, all the “unknown” will start to reveal themselves to you. Try to encourage yourself to value growth over comfort, learning over familiarity, and failure and effort over never trying.
8. Turn Each Day into a Learning Experience
Learn something new each day by discovering new experiences to help you grow and learn more about yourself and the world. You can allow learning to be part of your regular, daily routine by being open to new, different activities. For example, read a book or watch a new movie that you have been meaning to watch. Listen to music that you usually would not listen to, and make a new friend. Cook a new meal or take a different route to get to work. Go rock climbing or take an improv class. You never know what you’ll learn about the world if you don’t experience it enough. You will learn many things about yourself that you didn’t know already, and you’ll never know if you don’t try.
9. Have Patience
Try not to let anything prevent you from leaving your comfort zone. Achieving your goals by getting outside your comfort zone is a marathon, not a sprint. Even if it seems as if it’s taking a long time to accomplish your goals, or that you are not seeing much progress, don’t give up. Give it more time, continue familiarizing yourself outside your usual comfort zone, and have patience.
10. Challenge Yourself
Taking challenges is an important part of life that will allow you to grow and adapt as an individual. To achieve one’s goals and take on life’s challenges, one must simply begin. We often feel a sense of confidence from doing activities that scare us, and it’s important to continue to seek opportunities for growth. You will most likely feel discomfort in these new experiences, which is necessary for change and success. As always, it’s important to remember that if you’re comfortable, you’re not growing.
Sources:
– https://www.omaritani.com/blog/comfort-zone
– https://design.org/how-to-break-through-your-comfort-zone-and-try-something-new/
(Source I didn’t use but thought had good information to support the “Sign You’re Stuck in Your Comfort Zone” paragraph)