Our greatest achievements typically seem to happen when we decided to move outside of our comfort zone. It’s in those moments when we are taking action or accomplishing something that stretches us beyond those areas that we’re already familiar with. There is also typically some sort of stressful element involved. But later we feel grateful that we experienced it in order to attain new level of success in our lives. Below are the top 4 strategies that will help you to leave your comfort zone behind.
Top 4 Strategies to leave your Comfort Zone behind
1) Commit to Something New
Make a decision to go for something new. This could be a new career, a course, a change of location, a different way of seeing the world etc. Think about something that you’ve always wanted to try and then make a commitment to following through and pursuing it. However, avoid the tendency to devote too much time to pondering the pros and cons of committing to that new thing in your life that you’ve always dreamed of someday achieving. Make an informed decision, by all means.
However, if you’ve been considering something for a long time, it’s likely that you’ve already given a lot of thought to whether this is something that you really want in your life or not. Commit to it now rather than giving the mind time to come up with reasons why you shouldn’t follow through. The mind will always provide reasons why it can’t be done. This is your time and your moment, you’ve thought about it enough, now follow through.
2) Be Action-oriented
I like Mel Robbins concept of “The Five Second Rule.” It basically advocates taking action quickly once you’ve made a decision about something that you want to do or achieve. Being action oriented is key to following through on a commitment that we’ve made to ourselves. Take that first step as quickly as possible toward your new commitment. Make that action something that is directed squarely toward those fears or moments of hesitation. Waiting too long will often cause us to back out of it. We may never climb toward those new levels of success along our own journey as a result. That first action step is so critical to making something happen. It may be five seconds or a bit longer, but don’t take too long, instead take action on what you’ve promised to yourself.
3) Stop Procrastination
Procrastination is deadly to us achieving success. It insists on staying in our comfort zone for now, but assures us that at a later date we really will move forward and achieve what we’ve promised ourselves. The reality is we probably won’t. Do that thing that you know most needs to be done for you to get where you want to be. What is it? Take a step now to stop putting off that dream or vision for your life. That step and ending procrastination immediately in the moment may be the exact push needed to move out of the comfort zone. It also might bring in an incredible sense of relief knowing that you’ve finally stopped waiting because of fear and actually moved toward a new level of success, opportunity, and vision for your life.
4) Change your Surroundings
It’s not always possible, I get it. However, sometimes committing to something new also requires that we do just that, but somewhere else. For me, a place where I’ve already lived, worked, or grew up holds a lot of associations, and with those, its own built-in limitations. They create an unnecessary and invisible barrier to potential future achievements at times. This is not always the case, but sometimes a new location also equals a fresh start. If for no other reason, the newness and our own unfamiliarity with the place creates a feeling of fresh, new, exciting, and different opportunities.
We’re not aware of the limitations and we don’t have any pre-existing biases toward the location, ideally. This gives us the opportunity to start anew along with the new goals and levels of success that we’re hoping to achieve. It’s something to consider and can even result in meeting new people, obtaining new possibilities, and moving forward in ways that we haven’t previously expected or experienced.
Conclusion
It’s not always easy to get out of our comfort zone. However, some of our greatest successes often lie just beyond it. Small steps can be helpful in making that transition for ourselves. Committing to something new that we’ve always envisioned for ourselves is a start followed by taking action, however small. It builds momentum and gets us moving in the direction we want to go. Putting the brakes on procrastination is helpful for considering what can we do now, rather than tomorrow. Changing location can also make the difference between a place with invisible barriers to our success and one that is an open realm of possibility.