Hesitation, disinterest, and fear of change all start from your comfort zone. The comfort zone is a dangerous place to be in because it can push you away from your best life. Throughout history, there have been many people who achieved great success but failed to keep up that same drive that helped them to succeed. They became 'comfortable,' and they stopped doing what they were supposed to do to stay at the top.
They slip back into oblivion as more passionate and creative individuals and companies came in and pushed them out. This article will help you determine how to spot the comfort zone from a mile away and take steps to avoid it before it destroys you. Goal setting theory teaches you how to set your aim higher but if you don't know how to grow, you will never succeed.
The last and most crucial step to breaking out of the comfort zone is taking definite action. Like I always say: ‘The best way to start is by stating,’
What is the comfort zone?
The comfort zone is the point after you have made a considerable achievement that you feel like you've earned the right to sit back and relax. This is a colossal mistake that could cost you everything you've ever worked for. Every person on earth wanders into this zone from time to time. The ability to identify when you are in the comfort zone, and quickly step out of it is important. For many people, being in this zone can be the deciding factor of whether they will succeed or fail.
Identifying your Comfort Zone
Now, I want you to ask yourself:
- Where is my comfort zone?
- Is there a part of my life that I don't see a need to improve?
- Am I making any new progress on the plans I made last year?
- Am I looking to achieve any new feat in my career?
I want you to ask questions to investigate whether you are in the comfort zone or not, and I want you to be true to yourself. If you answered ‘yes’ to most of those questions, chances are you’re already in your comfort zone, and you need to get out of it.
Put Your Self In That Place
Take a moment and mentally place yourself in that situation or activity you find yourself very comfortable doing. The one you feel the most accomplished in at the moment.
Now, imagine I wanted to take you out of that place you just pictured to a new situation or environment that you're not very familiar with, but it is a place I frankly believe will be better for you. What if you even understood how much better it would make you become? How willing would you be to leave where you are and come with me to a new place?
Let me guess, No thanks?
Now that you have identified what areas of your life, you are currently stuck in a comfort zone, it’s time to find out how to get out of it.
But remember, you prefer the place or situation you're in at the moment. It's pretty comfortable. So regardless of how excellent my persuasive skills are, the decision is entirely up to you.
The question now is: Are you ready to get out of your comfort zone?
If your answer to that question was yes; keep reading.
How to kick yourself out of the Comfort Zone
The first and most crucial step to getting out of the comfort zone is by getting rid of fear-filled negative thoughts and assumptions that limit you from going out there and being the best you can be!
Negative thoughts like:
- I can't achieve that
- I will probably fail at it
- Who will even listen to me
- They could say no
- I'm not even good at what I do
- I'll certainly make a fool of myself
and all the other silly excuses you tell yourself. When you go through goal setting theory, you will understand that to get where you want to be, you must become more.
Start saying the opposite:
- I can do this.
- I'll be successful.
- I can get people to buy my idea.
- I won’t take no for an answer.
When you rid your mind of fear of the unknown and anxiety, then you could begin to work your way out of the intelligent mind game of the comfort zone. You can now ask yourself questions like these to help you channel your newfound motivation properly:
- Can things get better than the way they are right now?
- Can I do better?
- What can I do differently today to improve on what I achieved yesterday?
- Why don’t I start now?
Although everyone is different, and what motivates others might not excite you. I am yet to find one person that hasn’t started on the path to a positive transformation just from asking some tough questions. The most important thing is for you to answer all the questions as honestly as you can, and make a definite commitment to make a change.
As you can observe from the above questions, there is a progression from realization to responsibility. The endpoint of the personal inquiry should be to motivate you to take an action that will shift you from where you are right now to where you ought to be.
Take Action!
The last and most crucial step to breaking out of the comfort zone is taking definite action. Like I always say: ‘The best way to start is by stating,’ It’s not rocket science that the magic ingredient to all remarkable change and personal achievement is by taking a STEP. When you have been used to being in your comfort zone for a long while it may be tough at first to begin doing something new, but you need to understand that it is possible.
You need to also deal with procrastination at this point because it tricks you into thinking that you have a whole lot of time to achieve your goals. This is not the case. Time moves, regardless of whether you are making progress or not. For your first action, think about one thing that if you did it, it would propel you out of your comfort zone. Do at least one every single day regardless of how uncomfortable you feel while doing it. Trust me; it gets better with time.
Habit Stacker Will Get You Outside Your Comfort Zone
Habit Stacker provides resources to help you improve your habits. The first way we do this is through our online course Habit Mastery. The second way is with the Habit Stacker mobile app.
Olympian and founder of Habit Stacker Ian Warner, teaches the Habit Mastery course. He walks you through practical techniques that you can use to improve your life through your habits. No fluff or no sense! You get instant access to over 45 different videos breaking down how to build good habits and break bad ones.
The Habit Stacker app is what you use to live out your habits from day to day. It's a habit tracker that lets you know what you need to do each day. The app sets your daily routine board for you each day. All you have to do is get the task done at the top of the list. You can look back and see your streaks for each habit.
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