3 Ways to Bust Out of Your Comfort Zone

First of all, they don’t call it the “comfort zone” for nothing. And second of all, we all battle against the seductive lure of the comfort zone at some point.

It’s called the comfort zone, because it’s comfortable, familiar, safe, and can easily lull us into a paralyzing, catatonic state. Couple that with the fact that change is really hard and scary, and is it any wonder we get stuck in the comfort zone like invisible quick sand?

Whether it’s a personal relationship or a professional position, the dreaded comfort zone can be the cause of a lot of self-sabotage. It can hold you back from taking action and achieving your goals. As adults, the only way we learn and grow is by feeling uncomfortable, being stretched and challenged, and trying new things.

And I am speaking from personal experience.

I am definitely guilty of succumbing to the hypnotic temptation of my own comfort zone…but all that’s about to change! I am about to bust out of my own comfort zone, and here’s how I’m going to do it.

3 Ways to Bust Out of Your Comfort Zone…

Get Over Not Knowing

It is literally impossible to know everything and be an expert at everything. Yet, as women, we continue to test that theory. We love to have complete mastery over what we’re doing, and the last thing we want is for anyone to know we actually have no idea what we’re doing. We think it’s a sign of weakness. Get over it! Technology skills are not my strength, and I can barely operate my iPhone, but I am about to launch a new online training program. I had to get over the mental obstacle of not knowing how the technology side of the program works, because there are plenty of techno-geniuses out there to help, and simply stay focused on providing a top-level program filled with invaluable content, structure, and success.

Forget About Perfection

It is incredibly easy to stay locked inside the “perfectionism prison”. We want to have all of our ducks perfectly in a row before we even consider stepping outside of our comfort zone. It needs to be the perfect time, we need to have the perfect set up, perfect messaging, a perfect product, and a perfect outcome. There is no such thing as perfection. I could easily hang out in my comfort zone for the next 10 years agonizing over finding the perfect words and the perfect slides for my training program, but I am consciously choosing to accept the fact that “good and done” is always better than perfect.

Create Accountability

If left to our own devices, we can quickly talk ourselves into something and then out of something in a nanosecond. We wake up with a brilliant idea and tons of energy and motivation to finally step outside that comfort zone, and then reality sets in. It’s going to be too hard, too scary, too risky, too uncomfortable, and then we go back to bed without taking action. Sometimes you need either a gentle boost or a gigantic shove in the form of accountability in order to achieve a new, and uncomfortable, goal. Whether you hire a coach, join a program, enlist your best badass friend to pester you every day, invest money, or publically announce it to the world, the idea is that accountability is often that critical step we need to finally bust out of our comfort zone. And I do practice what I preach, because I am actively doing all of those accountability steps to make sure I don’t slip backwards into my own comfort zone.

So here is my public announcement…

I am in the process of creating and launching an online training program designed to help women successfully navigate the job search process. People have been asking me for this product for years, and I am finally catapulting myself outside of my comfort zone and getting it done. I haven’t decided on a title yet, but it’s a multi-module online program that women (and men) can use on their time, their tempo, and their terms in order to land their dream job.

I’ll keep you posted, but in the meantime, come join me outside the comfort zone. The air is fresh, the pace is frantic, and the sky’s the limit.