Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone is Easy
Challenging your comfort zone
If there’s one thing you can be confident about, It’s that ‘if the things you do don’t change, you won’t change’. So, if you continue to act the same, you’ll stay the same.
And, it’s only by changing what we do, by stepping out of our comfort zone, that we can grow and become better. And that’s sometimes scary.
In the next few minutes, I’m going to show you why it doesn’t have to be.
Everything grows, or it dies
Everything in life either grows, or it dies. And that includes your self-confidence.
If your level of confidence isn’t growing everyday, it’s dying every day. So your job, is to make sure it grows.
If you want anything to grow, you have to feed it. And with self-confidence, you can do that, by trying new things that make you feel a bit uncomfortable.
And most of the time, doing things we’re not comfortable with, makes us even more anxious!
So today, I’ll give you a few simple ideas you can build on. But first some context…
Expanding your comfort zone
There’s a quote by Abraham Maslow, that reminds us that no matter who we are today, it doesn’t mean that’s who we have to be tomorrow.
“In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth, or to step back into safety” ~ Abraham Maslow”
Every day there’s at least one opportunity for you to make a positive change. Unfortunately, most of those changes require that you step outside your comfort zone… the one thing you’re not comfortable doing (no one is in the beginning).
There’s a funny thing about your comfort zone though….. Once you’ve stepped out and done the activity once or twice, that activity becomes PART of your comfort zone! It’s only outside now, because you haven’t tried it yet.
Once you’ve tried something new, it doesn’t really matter if you don’t do it again. You’ve just taken a chance, and stepped outside your comfort zone.
You’ve had a success and that’s what’s important, because success breeds confidence.
Clearly, if you do it a few more times, eventually it becomes comfortable and possibly even enjoyable. So even if you commit to one small step outside your comfort zone each day, each success will bring with it more confidence in what you’re capable of.
Small, simple steps will get the job done. Whenever you see a situation that can help you grow, think of a simple action you can take to help you move toward it.
Final thoughts
By now, you should have realised that making changes to the way you approach new things needn’t be difficult. Every small step you take outside your current comfort zone, changes your mindset a little bit.
If you’re willing to act 1% more confident tomorrow than you were today, then 1% more confident the following day, than you are tomorrow, in just over three months you’ll be 100% more self-confident than you are today 🙂
Some ideas are…
- Say “Hello” to a stranger every day.
- If you see a nice looking garden while you’re out, hand deliver an anonymous ‘Thank You’ card for brightening up your day.
- Call in on an elderly neighbour and ask if they need anything from the shops.
- Strike up a conversation with a co-worker from a different department.
- Leave a comment on a web site you visit. (Why not start here 😉 )
- Search on Facebook for someone you haven’t seen since you left high School/College.
There are so many small ways, you can move one step outside your comfort zone every day. And before you know it, each of these things will become part of your new comfort zone. Once it does, go one step further.
After all, every marathon starts with one simple step. Every great discovery started with one simple action. Small steps can produce powerful changes. Keep taking small steps and before you know it, you’ll be doing things you never thought possible.
Let me know in the comments what small steps you plan to take, or why not join our community and get a free 23 page ebook, ‘7 Simple steps to build your self-confidence’?
