Author Roy T. Bennett said, “The comfort zone is a psychological state in which one feels familiar, safe, at ease, and secure.”
And that’s the biggest problem. Here are a few general examples of inside versus outside the comfort zone:
In your comfort zone: Your favorite place to go for lunch and the thing you most like to order.
Out of your comfort zone: A lunch place you’ve never been to or heard of, ordering something you’ve never tried.
In your comfort zone: Meeting with the group you’ve been a part/member of for years at the same meeting spot.
Out of your comfort zone: Meeting a new group of people (same affiliation) in a different meeting spot.
In your comfort zone: Meeting up with a friend and catching up on what’s new.
Out of your comfort zone: Striking up a conversation with a stranger and getting to know them.
In your comfort zone: Going to work and doing the same tasks that you do each morning.
Out of your comfort zone: Starting a new job, walking in with no idea exactly how things function.
In your comfort zone: Being at a family get-together in the home of a relative.
Out of your comfort zone: Being in a stranger’s house at a party full of people you don’t know.
In your comfort zone: Calling one of your best customers to talk to them about your product.
Out of your comfort zone: Calling a prospective customer who doesn’t know you or your product.
After seeing these examples, you may relate to some and can probably think of many more in your own life.
In many ways, there is nothing wrong with the comfort zone. We need to rest there.
Many people (and humans were designed to survive this way) thrive when things are predictable and do best when they have a routine. It helps guarantee safety in life and humans were designed to survive this way.
However, when you never do anything different, try anything new, or go outside your comfort zone you can see how quickly life becomes boring and routine – but worse, your opportunities for…
- growth and development
- learning
- connection
- expansion of career, money, relationships, and success
… are greatly diminished.
Jack Canfield has said, “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” Guess what?
It’s also outside your comfort zone!
For me, getting outside my comfort zone (everything on this list; going to meetings I didn’t want to go to, meeting strangers, calling prospects) led me to people and opportunities that impacted my life in a major, positive way. In fact, I can point to specific moments in time.
And I wasn’t inside my comfort zone, that’s for sure.
Every time you have an opportunity to get outside your comfort zone (not in the panic/freak out zone by the way) it expands.
Your comfort is never static. It’s either expanding or it’s shrinking.
So, list your own comfort zones.
And then work on stepping outside of them often and see how your life changes for the better.
Comments? Let us know your thoughts. And if you liked this post, please share! – AW
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