Time to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
Written by Jaynine Howard, USMC (Ret), PhD (ABD)
Do you know what your comfort zone is? Do you recognize the physiological and psychological symptoms of when you are pushed by events or people to get out of your comfort zone? Your comfort zone is often the place where you are able to operate on automatic pilot and produce stellar results. So why would want to get out of your comfort zone? The list is endless. Maybe you want to pursue a new dream or goal. Maybe you want to grow personally or professionally. Maybe you are bored and really do not like being in your comfort zone. We all have stayed employed at jobs where we did not like the people or the work yet we stayed because it was comfortable. We made up excuses on why we could not job hunt or do something different.
Today is the day to take action to get out of your comfort zone. I want you to implement my five tips below so you can turn your dreams into reality.
1. Dare to dream. Find a quiet spot and take time to reminisce on things you wanted to accomplish in this lifetime. How many do you still want to accomplish? Write them in a journal or on a piece of paper.
2. MAP. Start designing your master action plan on how you will accomplish each goal or dream. It is ok to take baby steps. Assign goal completion dates beside each task so you know the date you want to have each goal completed.
3. Reward. How are you going to reward yourself for completing each goal? You may have small rewards for baby steps and larger rewards for the bigger goals.
4. Tell the World. Announce to your friends and family your new goals. Solicit their help in pushing you out of your comfort zone and completing your goals.
5. Examine Your Environment. You will need to take time to examine your environment so you can pinpoint people, places, and things that are sabotaging your efforts to move forward and escape your comfort zone. You will need to recognize people that are jealous that you are moving forward and you will want to recognize places and things that keep you from moving forward i.e. fear, time, lack of knowledge, etc. Do not let people, places, and things keep you from turning your dreams into reality.
As long as you are in your comfort zone, you are not growing personally or professionally. I want you to embrace the butterflies in your tummy feeling. I want you acknowledge that sweaty palms are a sign of growth. Now is the time to take a deep breath, enter a room full of strangers at a networking event, and say hello first. When you implement my five tips above you will be able to propel yourself to take action and get yourself out of your comfort zone. I challenge you to get out of your comfort zone and start turning your dreams into reality.
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