Monday Canyon Ranch Ride
“Magic and mystery lie on the edge, just outside the comfort zone.” ― Amit Ray
The ability to take risks by stepping outside your comfort zone is the primary way by which we grow. But we are often afraid to take that first step. In truth, comfort zones are not really about comfort, they are about fear.
Break the chains of fear to get outside. Once you do, you will learn to enjoy the process of taking risks and growing in the process.
Here are 10 ways to help you step out of your comfort zone and get closer to success.
1. Become Aware of What’s Outside of Your Comfort Zone
What are the things that you believe are worth doing but, are afraid of doing yourself because of the potential for disappointment or failure? Draw a circle and write those things down outside the circle. This process will not only allow you to clearly identify your discomforts but your comforts. Write identified comforts inside the circle.
2. Become Clear About What You Are Aiming to Overcome
Take the list of discomforts and go deeper. Remember, the primary emotion you are trying to overcome is fear. How does this fear apply uniquely to each situation? Be very specific. Are you afraid of walking up to people and introducing yourself in social situations? Why? Is it because you are insecure about the sound of your voice? Are you insecure about your look? Or, are you afraid of being ignored?
3. Get Comfortable with Discomfort
One way to get outside of your comfort zone is to literally expand it. Make it a goal to avoid running away from discomfort. Let’s stay with the theme of meeting people in social settings. If you start feeling a little panicked when talking to someone you’ve just met, try to stay with it a little longer than you normally would before retreating to comfort. If you stay long enough and practice often enough, it will start to become less uncomfortable. Here’re some tips to help you: How to Overcome Your Resistance to Change for a Better Self
4. See Failure as a Teacher
Many of us are so afraid of failure that we would rather do nothing than take a shot at our dreams. Begin to treat failure as a teacher. What did you learn from the experience? How can you take that lesson to your next adventure to increase your chance of success? Many highly successful people failed plenty of times before they succeeded.
5. Take Baby Steps
Don’t try to jump outside your comfort zone, you will likely become overwhelmed and jump right back in. Take small steps toward the fear you are trying to overcome. If you want to do public speaking, start by taking every opportunity to speak to small groups of people. You can even practice with family and friends.
6. Hang out with Risk Takers
There is no substitute for this step. If you want to become better at something, you must start hanging out with the people who are doing what you want to do and start emulating them. Almost inevitably, their influence will start to have an effect on your behavior.
7. Be Honest with Yourself When You Are Trying to Make Excuses
Don’t say
“Oh, I just don’t have the time for this right now.”
Instead, be honest and say
“I am afraid to do this.”
Don’t make excuses, just be honest. You will be in a better place to confront what is truly bothering you and increase your chance of moving forward.
8. Identify How Stepping out Will Benefit You
What will the ability to engage in public speaking do for your personal and professional growth? Keep these potential benefits in mind as motivations to push through fear.
9. Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously
Learn to laugh at yourself when you make mistakes. Risk-taking will inevitably involve failure and setbacks that will sometimes make you look foolish to others. Be happy to roll with the punches when others poke fun.
10. Focus on the Fun
Enjoy the process of stepping outside your safe boundaries. Enjoy the fun of discovering things about yourself that you may not have been aware of previously.
It will seem really scary at first to get out of your comfort zone. But as I said, you don’t need to jump right out of your comfort zone at once, you can take baby steps gradually. As you slowly push past your comfort zone, you’ll feel more and more at ease about the new stuff which seemed so dangerous to you. And if you need a little help not feeling like you could embarrass yourself here are some tips….
6 Reasons Not to Take Life So Seriously by Steve Kux
Every day you are faced with a million little traps that encourage you to take your life way too seriously.
Next time you are tempted to smash your computer or lash out in a fit of road rage, remember these reasons not to take life so seriously.
1. The world is ridiculous
Objectively speaking, civilization is ridiculous.
If you can stop and laugh at everyday absurdities, you are two steps ahead of the game.
2. Relationships are all that matter
Time and time again when researchers have tried to figure out what makes people happy they have come to the same conclusion:
personal relationships make the biggest difference.
If we valued our happiness over money (as many of us claim to) we would do everything we could to spend time with friends and family and not worry so much about putting in extra time at work.
When you look back on your life, you won’t reflect on the time you spent at work; you will remember family dinners, great vacations, romantic dinners, and your wedding. Prioritize people over your career.
3. Rich people aren’t happier people
Spending more time at home or with friends will probably have a negative impact on the balance of your bank account.
Just reading that sentence probably sent a wave of panic through some of you, but consider the fact that wealth is not correlated with happiness.
In fact, once you have enough money to satisfy your basic needs, money makes very little difference in your overall well-being.
The only exceptions are if you give your extra money to charity or if it significantly boosts your social rank.
4. Worrying isn’t productive
Some of us even end up stressed out in situations where it is totally unwarranted.
For example, you might find yourself visiting a new city like London or Paris and end up thoroughly confused by the transit system. You can’t find out how to get where you want to go and it makes you want to scream. But what are you accomplishing by stressing yourself out?
Nothing. Take a step back and laugh at yourself.
Go with the flow and end up where you end up.
5. Your time is limited
If worrying is unproductive and money doesn’t make us happy, why do we waste so much time on those things? You only get to live one life. Do what you need to do to live a happy and fulfilled life, and forget what anyone else tells you.
6. You are a speck
Finally, if you need a reminder that your problems aren’t as big as they seem and you want to readjust your perspective, get out of the city and look at the stars.
The universe is larger than you can imagine.
In a very real sense, you are insignificant.
What better reason could there be not to take your life too seriously?
The only thing that really matters is enjoying your life as much as you can and helping other people do the same.
With that, We all hope you have a wonderful week!
Bew Kind, Do Fearless
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