HOW TO STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
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When was the last time you did something for the first time? Are you thinking of stepping out of your comfort zone?
I've discovered in life that to make progress, you need to set yourself apart from the norm and take a few risks to push your personal limits – and taking risks comes fairly easy to me these days, but for many of you, I know taking a few risks is easier said than done!
But stepping out of your comfort zone to scale your business is scary, right?
I’m a huge introvert and I hate being the centre of attention, but stepping out of my comfort zones to achieve success in my business life has been an essential part of moving forward, so I wanted to share my thoughts on today’s episode.
And many of you are quite happy sitting in your comfort zones and rarely venture out of them. And I ‘get’ why that is. Your comfort zone is where you feel safe, cosy and secure, so leaving it can be terrifying. So, is your comfort zone where the magic happens? No, sadly it's not.
You know that outside of the safe zone is where true growth happens, so surely there must be a way to help you leave it? And the good news is, yes there is!
What We Talk About In This Episode:
Fear of failure and fear of success.
Why staying in your comfort zone keeps you stuck.
My 2-step method of how to embrace change (even when you’re afraid of it!)
Hit the download button for the full episode transcript or head further down to read the transcript online.
Welcome to the Scale and Skyrocket your business podcast with me, your host, Lor Bradley. If you’re looking for super smart ways to scale your business and build a business that serves you (and not the other way around) then stay with me as every week, I’ll be sharing my simple time-smart strategies on how you can scale your business by working smarter and not harder.
When was the last time you did something for the first time? Are you thinking of stepping out of your comfort zone? Ok, let's crack on!
Now January is the perfect time to talk about comfort zones and the uncomfortable feelings that usually comes with stepping out of them! I’m seeing many entrepreneurs saying that with the challenges over the last couple of years, and social media becoming very noisy with the influx of new people starting their businesses that this is spurring seasoned entrepreneurs to step up and out of their comfort zones and be seen in a crowded marketplace.
But stepping out of your comfort zone to scale your business is scary right?
And one of my favourite ‘step out of your comfort zone quotes’ has to be this one:
JRR Tolkien (Bilbo Baggins) said “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to”
I’m a huge introvert and I hate being the centre of attention but stepping out of my comfort zones to achieve success in my business life has been an essential part of moving forward so I wanted to share my thoughts on that today’s episode.
I’m naming the episode after something my friend Colleen said in episode 19, “I’ve decided to leave comfort in the rear-view mirror” to grow her business and regardless of how uncomfortable that journey might be.
And I loved her attitude. So, Colleen, this episode is dedicated to you.
So, stay with me as in this episode we’re going to talk about:
Now I've discovered in life that to make progress, you need to set yourself apart from the norm and take a few risks to push your personal limits – and taking risks comes fairly easy to me these days, but for many of you, I know taking a few risks is easier said than done!
And many of you are quite happy sitting in your comfort zones and rarely venture out of them. And I ‘get’ why that is. Your comfort zone is where you feel safe, cosy and secure, so leaving it can be terrifying.
So, is your comfort zone where the magic happens? No, sadly it's not.
Now, you know that outside of the safe zone is where true growth happens, so surely there must be a way to help you leave it? And the good news is, yes there is!
So, let’s kick off by talking about
If you ask most entrepreneurs who reach the tipping point of scaling their business why they don't take the big leap to make it happen and they may tell you they're afraid to fail, afraid to succeed, afraid to be visible or afraid of making serious money.
And at the heart of not moving forward to scale your business, it’s usually rooted in some kind of fear of failing.
Most of us have probably avoided doing something amazing through fear of failure at some point in our lives. Fear of public speaking, fear of scaling your business, fear of leaving your day job to start your business and (you know) the list goes on...
You gaze out from inside your little comfort bubble and watch and gasp at the bravery of those around you who go on to do the things you really want to do. You say to yourself "oooh, they’re so lucky", "success just falls into their lap", “they make it look so easy” and so on...
And here’s the thing, stepping out of your comfort zone rarely comes naturally to any of us - I know it doesn't for me, it’s fucking terrifying – but it’s something we've all got to learn to work on.
And have you ever had that feeling when you're about to do something scary, and BAM! your body ceases to function, your mind plays tricks on you and your heart pounds right out of your chest?!
Your inner mind monkey then starts whispering crazy stuff to you of why you can’t grow your business and then, your confidence wavers, and you start to slip away from that dream you've been so tightly holding on to.
I'll admit, this has been the case for me in the past and mainly because I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my work and my own ideas. I set my own bar too high, I might stall my launch a week or two because I'm worrying that I might have missed a flaw. So, I procrastinate from fear and if I allow it, that could keep me in my comfort zone.
The ridiculous thing is, once I've thrown myself into the thing I’m stressing about, and I look back and reflect on what the fuss was all about - the stress and needless gut-wrenching worry - and I feel so fired up that I've achieved something new.
But, it's a weakness I'm constantly working on, and I’m learning. Each time it gets easier for me to remember and apply the techniques I've learned to help make it easier to step out of my comfort zone.
Like me, you may never totally overcome the fears that hold you stuck in your own comfort zone, but at the very least I'm sure you would want to improve so you'll not find it so difficult in the future.
So, the 10 million dollar question - How do you step out of your comfort zone and face fresh challenges head on?
Well, in my own experience, you'll get there by doing 3 things, and that’s by:
And, if you're willing to put in the effort and practise, in time you'll be able to:
Ok, so if our comfort zone is so damn comfortable, then what on earth is wrong with staying in it?!
Personal growth is spurred on by trying different things. I know it's human behaviour to stick like glue to what has always worked for you. But - if you're not careful, living from day-to-day like this can also get you stuck in a rut. Change is one of the only constants in our lives, and if you don’t embrace change, you’ll stagnate.
I’m just thinking about my own ruts and bad habits here…have you ever tried to climb out of an ingrained rut, or a bad habit - it's really hard, isn't it!
And when you’re wanting to scale your business, living in your comfort zone puts you at risk of missing out on the exciting opportunities to grow your business because to grow, you need that steady stream of new experiences and ideas.
And I’ll guarantee you that your competitors are most certainly stepping out of their comfort zones, and re-imagining and innovating their offerings and looking for new ideas to take them forwards.
And even if you know that they aren't, you still can't afford to get comfortable on this because those who innovate, forge a path ahead and embrace change do get a competitive advantage over those who stay where they are.
So, staying in a rut pretty much means you'll eventually fall behind your competition.
And another way it keeps you stuck is you’ll have
So, take a couple of minutes to think about a goal you've achieved in the past and one that you’ve felt really proud of. And looking back, was that goal something you could coast along towards and achieve by doing very little?
I think any goal worth achieving is going to requires you to step outside your comfort zone. Hitting your goals also needs a good dose of motivation and positivity – from you and from the people around you!
And when you allow yourself to sit comfortably in your comfort zone, and trapped in that fear mindset, you’ll naturally be anticipating failure (or fear) - and that way of thinking is not going to help motivate you to achieve your business goals.
And it’s important to remember that in your comfort zone you also won’t
So, remember, the thing that mostly stops you from taking that leap is fear, so the fear of failure, or the fear of success. We all know failure is how we learn and grow.
Remember when your parent told you not to put your hand in the fire as a kid? And then you put your hand near the fire anyway?
Yep - you soon learn from your mistakes (and hopefully you don’t repeat them!).
And if you allow yourself to stay where you are because of the fear of success or fear of failure in your business, you won’t learn or gain that experience you really need so that you grow.
So, remember: No risk really means no reward!
And staying in your comfort zone as CEO of your business means
If you decide to stay in your comfort zone or comfortably in your rut, or your usual habits then you'll actually see less engagement, buy in and motivation in your team members over time.
And many employment studies have found that team members working in their own comfort zones can lead to lack of buy in, boredom, lack of motivation and ultimately you, as CEO, will lose that talent if things don’t change (that means they’ll up sticks and leave!)
But - when you encourage your people to dream, to innovate and take chances in your business, it’ll motivate them, and it’ll inspire them, and they’ll be more productive for it.
And when you leave your own comfort zone as CEO, it’ll help your team to feel engaged, they’ll become a true part of your business and will want to contribute more when it comes to innovating the way forward.
And I want you to remember that new business ideas, innovation and opportunities do not come from comfortably sitting in your rut if you want to grow your business. When you learn to leave your comfort zone and create a culture of facing challenges head-on together in your team, it’s going to naturally build that excitement, build new momentum and it’ll leads to new business growth opportunities along the way.
Alright, let’s move on to talk about how to
It’s not rocket science and you’ll already know that to leave your comfort zone, and breakthrough your fears, you’re going to have to switch up your mindset.
And it’s usually called a change mindset, or a growth mindset.
So, a change mindset is a mindset that accepts, and embraces and challenges!
And I’m going to make the assumption that you haven’t run off when I said embraces fear, but what you are basically going to do, is switch over your mindset across to one that can better handle change.
To make this switch you need to start by pinpointing the specific fears that are holding you back from growing or moving forward in your business and (this IS the really hard part), you’ll need to confront those fears head on.
If you think about it, your natural instincts are hard coded into you to use your fears to protect you from perceived dangers.
But to be honest, there are so many reasons we all fear big changes:
I'm going to show you two strategies I have successfully used to help you work on your fears, so you can make the changes you want to make, and with confidence!
Remember. It's only the fear that's holding you back from moving forward from doing amazing things in your business!
So, if you want to leave that comfort in the rear-view mirror in 2022 and focus on growing your incredible business, then here’s the 2-step process I learned. Here’s what to do
STEP ONE. Identify And Own Your Fear.
The first step in overcoming your fear is to identify it and accept it and take ownership of it. And you do this because if you don’t know what’s blocking your path to success then you can’t move past it.
So, I want you to try this to help you identify your fear:
This is a perfect exercise if you like to journal.
OK. Let’s move onto
STEP TWO. Now Picture Your Future Self
One of the things you know for certain (other than death and taxes!) is that you can’t avoid change. It’s going to happen to you whether you want it or not. And you can't control change, but what you can control is how you respond to it and how you respond to it.
So, I want you to now think of your future self:
And again, this is perfect for journaling.
You’re going to start by remembering how your business life was 1 year ago, 2 years ago, and then 5 years ago...
And when you’re ready, write down…
And this is such a powerful exercise – it’s been transformational for me in helping me move through my fear blockers.
So, you want to get to a place where leaving your comfort zone becomes a regular mindset habit, or something that you’re continually working on. Treat leaving your comfort zone like you would going to the gym. Except this time, you’re giving your mindset a great workout.
And if you want to leave comfort in the rear-view mirror then you really need to embrace a new change mindset into your daily routine. And I believe that stepping out of your comfort zone is a habit you can easily develop over time because it’s what I did.
The more you do it, the easier it becomes. Step by step, day by day. Do it little and often because if you don’t exercise your mindset, you'll find it much harder to work through your fears – and that’s going to ultimately stunt your business and team growth.
And with fully embracing a visit to the mindset gym as a daily habit, you'll be able to easily face new challenges any time you need to. And trust me, in time you’ll grow to love it!
Next week, join me as I follow up to this episode with a great conversation on how to motivate your people and get them to develop their own change mindsets. So, if you have a team then don’t miss that!
If you’ve enjoyed this episode do leave me a review and don’t forget to subscribe for my weekly episodes!
Thanks for listening, take care and have a great day!
Until next time
Lor Bradley
I'm Lor Bradley 🏳️🌈
No 'je ne sais quois' to be found here! I'm a qualified business strategist, author and I show entrepreneurs exactly what they need to DO to be brilliant in business.
I'm an online business mentor & consultant, not a business coach, so unlike most coaches I have the practical experience and geek-ery to show you how to grow your business beyond 7-figures.
I’m on a mission to uplevel entrepreneurs from 'spread too thin' and into the CEO of a biz they won't want to take a holiday from!
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