Moving Beyond Your Comfort Zone

As a business professional or entrepreneur, you are probably very good at what you do. You intuitively know what works and what doesn’t. When you attain this level of expertise, you can easily fall into the trap of successfully performing your job “with your eyes closed.” If this sounds like you, you are operating within your comfort zone.

While operating within your comfort zone is safe, it does not give you the opportunity to grow personally or professionally. You may be good at what you do, but if you continue doing things in the same way, your work may become boring and cause you to feel unmotivated. It may no longer offer you a challenge. You also limit your ability to be more successful.

Only by trying new things can you feel the excitement of getting your creative juices flowing. Only when you work towards a new goal, can you experience the thrill of reaching new heights of achievement.

MAKE A DECISION TO GROW

Trying new things does entail some risks. When you try something new you will probably feel uncomfortable. This is totally normal. You will also very likely make mistakes along the way -- sometimes many mistakes. This is normal too. The way you learn to succeed is to learn what doesn’t work. No one becomes an expert the first time they try something new.

However, most of us don’t like to make mistakes. You may be concerned about what others will think of you. When you’re really good at what you do, people admire you and look up to you. But as you make mistakes during the learning process, you run the risk of looking foolish to others and feeling embarrassed.

MISTAKES AS FEEDBACK

A good way to deal with this inevitable part of the learning process is to look at mistakes as feedback. They are letting you know when you need to use a different strategy to accomplish something. They are learning guideposts, which let you know what you should continue doing and what you should change.

Extraordinarily successful people in every field have made lots of mistakes -- that’s how they became extraordinary. And if someone is “kind enough” to tell you that you’ve made a mistake say, “I know. Isn’t it great? Now I don’t have to do it again.” It will totally change that individual’s reaction to the situation. Even if it doesn’t, it will change your own perception of the mistake, and that’s what counts.

Trying new things offers wonderful payoffs. When you try something new and you persist, you usually become very good at it. In addition to having acquired a new skill, you will experience the exhilaration of having faced a challenge and overcoming it. You can also achieve greater success than you ever thought possible. You were meant to grow and succeed!

I invite you to make a commitment to move beyond your comfort zone. Only by doing so can you move closer to truly living your potential and becoming the best you can possibly be.