It’s all in the mind this week.
Have you heard all heard the saying that success breeds success?
But where does success actually start?
I believe it starts with a willingness to step outside the comfort zone.
You see it doesn’t matter what level of game you are playing right now- there is always another level you can go to. And what usually holds you where you are is this thing called a “Comfort Zone”.
Have a read of this by Bob Riggs.
| “The Comfort Zone” |
| “Many of us have established a comfort zone in our lives. We’re just coasting along taking the path of least resistance, and just getting by.
This is a very common and understandable attitude. We’ve all worked hard to get where we are and it may seem a good place to be. The problem with this is that once we stop reaching, stretching, seeking and risking, we actually stop growing. The comfort zone frame of mind is settling for what we are TODAY. That may be fine today, but without continued growth, WE ARE NOW ALL WE ARE EVER GOING TO BE. If you’re in a comfort zone, beware – the danger of a comfort zone is that it doesn’t hurt, and it may even feel good.” |
Do Something Outside Your Comfort Zone
By taking yourself out of your comfort zone you begin to expand.
In that expansion comes self confidence . . .in self-confidence comes a more confident mindset . . .in that confident mindset comes success. . . . and in success there comes more success . . . and more confidence . . .and more success and so on!
You are currently inside your own comfort zone. So am I. But the good thing about a comfort zone is that every time you DO SOMETHING outside of your comfort zone, your comfort zone expands.
Picture a circle getting increasingly larger – each time you step out of your comfort zone, your circle expands. Now this something could be anything – say kayaking on the sea, a bungee jump, going on a singles holiday, walking into a bar by yourself . . . but here let’s apply it to speaking:
- So for you, speaking might currently be outside your comfort zone.
- Perhaps speaking is inside your comfort zone but selling from the stage is outside your comfort zone.
- Perhaps selling from stage is inside your comfort zone but hitting 30% conversions is outside your comfort zone.
Take a Mini Risk
It doesn’t matter what level you’re at in your speaking business, there’s always another level to go to. It’s just a matter of stretching your comfort zone. And you can do this by taking a series of little risks. Not huge risks, just little steps outside your comfort zone. As your comfort zone expands, so too does your definition of yourself.
The mini risks do not have to be related to speaking by the way. I have a friend who recently went camping for the very first time. This was a really big deal for her.
2 years ago camping was the last thing she would ever do as being clean and comfortable was far more appealing . . but recently she ‘got’ that to increase her financial success she needed to do more things outside of her comfort zone. That way her comfort zone around money would also expand . . .
. . . So off camping she went. Also during her holiday she was doing white water rafting, rock climbing and other ‘scary’ activities. It’s why I like the high ropes course so much . . . we push ourselves to take risks on the ropes and see what happens when we don’t fall.
Same with life.
Your Next Adventure?
So if you’re feeling comfortable right now – this week it’s time to expand yourself, and commit to something new. What mini-risk can you take this week to step outside of your comfort zone and start cultivating that successful mindset?
Fabulous metaphor Joanne.
I found my true passion in life after achieving wonderful results of turning around my youngest child from great learning difficulties to an excited and happy child /student who excels at home and school with excellent grades in reading, writing, maths, science etc and importantly social skills too. I have then designed and authored my Life Skills Tool Box For Parenting on MotivateSchoolKids.com. I love what I do and do what I love now by stepping out of the 25 years of corporate life in 2008/09.- my comfort zone. This is now my life long passion and mission i.e. to help parents around the world to make life change positive difference in their family lives. Happy Kids Happy Parents is my business. My belief for every family is great health, great relationships and great wealth(in many ways including financially).
Fabulous metaphor Joanne.
I found my true passion in life after achieving wonderful results of turning around my youngest child from great learning difficulties to an excited and happy child /student who excels at home and school with excellent grades in reading, writing, maths, science etc and importantly social skills too. I have then designed and authored my Life Skills Tool Box For Parenting on MotivateSchoolKids.com. I love what I do and do what I love now by stepping out of the 25 years of corporate life in 2008/09.- my comfort zone. This is now my life long passion and mission i.e. to help parents around the world to make life changing positive differences in their family lives. Happy Kids Happy Parents is my business. My belief for every family is great health, great relationships and great wealth.
Hi Jo,
It always comes back to the big why. When you really, really want something you will focus on it 100% and when scarcity enters the mix, it really explodes.
I was a lone parent struggling to keep a roof over the heads of my daughter and self.
I had a degree and really wanted to do the Masters. By chance I overheard someone I worked with had received financial support to do the very same Masters. I also found I was probably too late to enrol. In less than 2 weeks, I got the funding, completed uni application forms and got accepted, arranged childminding and was sitting in the classroom.
It was only later that I realised how huge that stretch had been.
I am not a 5 star person by any means, so when my trip to Antarctica was on a 5 star ship, I had a lot of adjusting to do! I was terrified of all these strangers – well dressed of course, but still strange – until I realized that they are just like the rest of us: they just have money! ThaTt was a big learning curve for me. I think I could learn to be comfortable in 5 star circumstances…..
The thing I love about stepping outside your comfort zone is how exhilarating it can be. I was terrified of selling from the stage at first, but I trusted in your process Jo and now I find I get a massive kick out of it! (I still get really nervous though and feel like I want to back away!)
I particularly loved this article! There are some, myself included, who might think you have to take great big steps outside of your comfort zone to achieve results. It really is the small steps that make such a big difference in your confidence. I recently went adventure caving with my 11 year old…we were the only 2 who signed up for it on the day..which was great in one way as we had the instructor all to ourselves…on the other hand, it left us thinking we were the only ones mad enough to do it! Anyway, despite our fears…and they were pretty big especially for my daughter, we conquered them and did the one and a half hour caving challenge. Despite feeling terrified on the inside I kept telling myself I could do it and all would be well. Perhaps, more importantly, I wanted to demonstrate to my daughter that we can overcome our fears and do it anyway!! To some, caving might seem like a big step out of our comfort zones, but if I hadn’t made smaller ones in life before then I would never have been able to have that experience. The more you do, the more you believe you can do. So get stretching and enjoy all the experiences that will come from it!! 🙂 xx