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Getting Out Of Your Comfort Zone

Getting Out Of Your Comfort Zone

 

Let’sgetting out of comfort zones start with some bad news. We can’t actually step out of our comfort zone. As soon as you do something unexpected and scary, it becomes part of what you’re starting to get comfortable with.

The good news is that you can stretch it as far as you’d like. The  tool we use to stretch and expand our comfort zone is the “realm of possibility”.   Think of it as a door that opens up to a word of new ideas and opportunities.  You know that there’s not really such a thing as a comfort zone or a realm of possibilities. We don’t all walk around with an area mapped off. Instead it’s a thought construct that helps us understand our limitations and how to get past them.

Let’s look at how opening this door helps us grow our comfort zone and try new things.

How we perceive ourselves and what we think we can accomplish has a lot to do with what we are willing to try.

If someone grows up in a working class neighbourhood and no one in his family or circle of friends has ever gone to college, it’s hard for him or her to even imagine the possibility of getting a degree from a prestigious school.

Going back a hundred years ago, women would never have imaged that they’d be running big businesses, taking a large rolecomfort zones in politics, and working in every job imaginable.  When I went to school girls were not allowed to take woodshop or mechanics and when I graduated it seemed like there were only 3 careers for women – teachers, nurses, or secretaries.  Now, the career world is open for both women and men.

Before the age of enlightenment, people would have laughed at you if you told them the earth was round. It seemed perfectly obvious to everyone that it was flat.  As we learn and grow, more opportunities abound.

In each of these cases, the realm of possibility didn’t yet include things like going to college, working in an important job, or that the earth is in fact round. The thinking hadn’t changed, there weren’t enough examples to show that it was possible.

A shift had to occur to move each of these examples into the realm of possibility. In the case of the person about to finish high school it could be as simple as being introduced to someone who did make it into college, graduated, and is now thriving in a job or business. Or a scholarship to get the opportunity to give it a serious try and become the first person in the local community with a college degree.

If we can start to see and imagine that something is possible, no matter how far out of reach it seems at the moment, we can stretch our comfort zone to get there.

That’s the beauty of this realm of possibility. It allows us to reach goals that seem at first unreachable. We can use it to our advantage to help us grow as people and craft the life we want. That’s the true power of this realm of possibility.

Start dreaming, start imagining, and start expanding what you believe you can do and you’ve taking an important first step towards personal growth and expanding your comfort zone.

Day dreaming is often frowned upon as a waste of time. I beg to differ and instead say that it’s important.

While it may not be the best use of your time while you’re sitting in Algebra class (though I completely understand the need to zone out), day dreaming is an important part of personal growth and something you should make time for regularly.

If you don’t dream and imagine what could be, how do you come up with ideas of what could be possible and then develop a roadmap and goals to reach it? That’s how you grow fast and build the life of your dreams.

If you were going on holiday or making a trip it would make good sense to choose a destination and plan the route in advance. You may even make a list of the various roads, landmarks and turnings along the way if it was an unfamiliar route.

In your journey through life, if you want to be happy and fulfilled, it makes sense to do the same. Without goal setting and planning you are leaving your future to chance. Your path through life is by accident rather than design.

Any efficient organisation will have a stated vision of what the organisation wants to achieve and a mission statement of the route to get there. You can apply the same principles in any area of your life.

Make use of the realm of possibility. Not only will it get you result, it’s important in so many other ways.

To getting out of your comfort zone

Fran Watson

www.franwatson.ca

 

 

 

P.S.  Remember to log in to my Facebook page and post comments

P.P.S.  Here is an article on confidence building:  https://garyguwe.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/3-tips-to-boost-your-confidence/

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