Do you place certain papers in a certain spot on your desk?
Do you travel to work via the same route every day?
Do you have a favorite coffee mug for easy Saturday mornings?
Is there a food you eat when you seek comfort (gooey mac and cheese here!)?
Most of us have some preferred routines and/or objects for a reason. They’re familiar. They’re comfortable. They make us feel safe.
But sometimes that comfort can become confining: sometimes we’re unaware that we’ve created boundaries we rarely step across.
If we’re to grow, learn, and make a positive difference, we have to propel ourselves beyond the borders of our comfort zone. Tim Butler, psychotherapist, director of Career Development at Harvard Business School and author of Getting Unstuck: How Dead Ends Become New Paths, says:
Failure to get unstuck can put careers, personal life goals, and the healthy functioning of work teams or organizations at risk.
3 ways to grow your comfort zone
Listen to classical music or the Black Eyed Peas. Enjoy an audio book as you drive to work or the market. Take in a TED presentation. Take a webinar. Look up the meaning of an unfamiliar word and use it in a conversation that very same day. Learn a new software. Try out a new craft or sport.
Expand all your muscles: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.
Every quarter: let go of or toss out one thing.
Choose what that one thing is gonna be. It might be an object, a feeling, a practice or whatever your personal baggage might be.
That sweater that hasn’t been worn since high school – give it to a charity.
That slighted feeling you’re carrying around because Betty or Bob ignored you – write it down on a piece of paper, tie that paper to a helium-filled balloon and let it sail away, out of your head, heart and life.
Those beliefs you’re carved in personal granite about how things must always be done – grab your chisel, and start carving away.
That dress or shirt or tie you’ve been saving for a special event – declare today a special day and wear it.
Be perpetually open to learning, doing and being!
What’s your favorite way to blast outside your comfort zone?
Image source: morgueFile.com
Ahh! One of my favorite topics and graphics! (And so much easier to do when it is my choice and I view it as an adventure than when I am pushed outside of my comfort zone.) …But either way there is growth and life there!
I don’t know if I have one favorite way out of the comfort zone. Some days it is with a spirit of fun ad adventure, some days feeling lots of fear and choosing to do it anyway…