Step outside your comfort zone
Stepping outside of your comfort zone can be uncomfortable. But it allows us to stretch and grow. It allows us to reach our full potential. Not stepping out has the opposite effect, we literally withdraw and shrink.
I want to use practicing yoga as an example of stepping out of our comfort zone and stretching, growing and reaching our full potential. But first let me say that I don’t believe ‘practice makes perfect.†That saying to me is a motivational myth. A motivational myth is when we say a saying over and over and we think that it is true, but it is not.
If you practice something over and over but you practice it wrong and develop bad habits, you will not improve. If you try your hardest to get to Tulsa from Springfield Missouri, but you’re going east, you will never get there, unless you circle the globe. I heard someone say “perfect practice makes perfect.â€
Before we practice something we need to consult an expert. We need to have the end in mind before we begin. What is the standard, what is the goal and what would perfect look like. We don’t have to be perfect before we ever start and we may never be perfect as long as we try but we need to know what perfect looks like, so we can strive for that mark.
Before I get into what I mean by stepping out of our comfort zone, I want to share my four steps that will always help you succeed in any endeavor. To me success is defined in reaching our full potential. And stepping outside our comfort zone does just that.
My four step process to success is:
- Set a goal.
- Seek knowledge on the subject.
- Have energy for the task.
- Handel setbacks or road blocks.
So if my goal is to get to Tulsa from Springfield on a particular Friday at five o’clock in the evening, I have a goal. A goal must have a deadline and we have one. It must be important to us, and it is important for me to be in Tulsa by five on a Friday.
Now we need knowledge. Are we driving, flying, riding a bike, walking whatever the means are we need knowledge. If we are driving, we need knowledge of how to drive a car. We need knowledge on how far it is, road laws, how to read a map or GPS and much more.
Our knowledge on the subject of our goal will let us know what is possible. A goal must be possible and attainable or it is not a goal, it is only a wish. But let me remind you that many experts said that The Arch in St. Louis was impossible to build, that it was impossible to go to the Moon, it was impossible to fly and  have a car travel faster than fifty miles an hour.  Two hundred years ago it would have been impossible to travel from Springfield to Tulsa in three hours.
Don’t be too quick to say something is impossible. What is impossible today may be possible tomorrow. And as a whole other subject that I won’t get into, all things are possible to those that believe and with God all things are possible but that is another article!
So for our subject here our goal must be possible and the experts can help us with that. If our goal is to lose a hundred pounds we first need to have the knowledge that we really need to lose a hundred pounds. Then we need to learn we can’t do it over night. Then we learn how to do it and stay healthy. So with proper healthy eating and enough proper exercise, maybe under a doctor’s supervision we would learn we can lose a pound a week for two years. So our goal with the knowledge we learned is to lose a hundred pounds in two years. We know we can’t achieve our goal in one day but one day we can achieve our goal.
My third step is energy for the task or goal. What gas is for your car enthusiasm is for your body and soul. Enthusiasm is my favorite word. To me it means live life with your heart and live life with emotions not just going through the motions. If we are driving, walking or fling to Tulsa we need energy. If we are losing weight we need energy. Good healthy food like vegetables, lean meats and fruit are our energy or fuel for your body. Exercise becomes fuel for your body and mind.
If when you leave work you are always exhausted and worn out if you start working out and eating right you will have tons more energy. One way to get more energy is to celebrate small victories. If you lose two pounds start celebrating. Success breeds success. The more success you have the more success you will have. Set small goals within your big goal. Instead of trying to lose a hundred pounds, set the goal a pond a week, or four pounds a month. Celebrate each victory. Trust the process and do your best to make hundreds of small changes and improve in each of those areas a little each day or week.
Hundreds of small changes and small improvements daily will add up in the months and years ahead. Trust the small things. When I was in retail in the 80’ and 90’s I was always number one in raising money for charity. When others were trying to collect hundreds of dollars, I was asking for nickels from hundreds of people. I usually raised three times more money than anyone else.
When I was interviewed and asked how I raised more money than anyone else in my field and was asked what my secret was, I said ‘I have faith in the power of a nickel.†Others did gimmicks, stunts, water dunks, jail time, challenges, races and many other heart felt ways of raising money, I simply asked everyone for a nickel. We raised thousands of dollars every year.
We need energy for my forth step; road blocks and setbacks. Whether it is losing weight or traveling to Tulsa we have to be prepared for setbacks or road blocks. You might have car trouble or a flat tire. You might be stagnant on your weight loss or even backslide and gain some weight back, don’t quit. Winston Churchill once said “take a detour but don’t quit.†You might have to reset your goal and time line but that is better than quitting.
Stepping outside of your comfort zone might be that you want to be a better public speaker, or you might want to do more open networking for your company. You might have a hard time learning in a class room setting or you do not enjoy reading, maybe you do not like exercising or eating healthy. Maybe you’re single and too shy to ask someone out on a date. Maybe you’re not comfortable sharing your feelings with those people you are close to. You might be at a dead in job and are not comfortable updating your resume and seeking another job.
Maybe you’re in a rut, whatever it is if you step outside of your comfort zone, set a goal, seek knowledge of it, have the energy and be prepared for setbacks you can grow and reach your full potential.
I said earlier yoga is a good example of this. Your body will stretch or withdraw according to your actions. When I describe yoga to you I want you to imagine how your life is in comparison, especially in the area you want to grow in.
Our ligaments, our muscles, our veins and our tendons will all withdraw without use. If you are in a car all the time, your tendons in your hip will shorten and withdraw. If you’re in an office chair eight hours a day all your muscles and tendons will withdraw and shrink.
The same thing happens to your public speaking skills if you don’t use them or any other skills you want to grow in. We seem to lose what we don’t use. In time your body will quit pumping blood to the tip of your brain and to the tip of your toes. But with proper exercise it will.
“Yoga you ask?†Yoga will stretch your body to its proper place. At first it will be very uncomfortable, unless you are a kid and then it will feel normal. With yoga your tendons will stretch to their proper length. I had hip pain and shoulder pain for years. Consulting with Dr. McDonnell, a chiropractor who owns Chestnut Wellness in Springfield Missouri, he told me that there was no injury, but my tendons had shrunk from lack of use.
I worked out and I was a runner, but those activities did not stretch those tendons. He told me that my front shoulder, where the pain was, was over developed and the back of my shoulder was under developed. My body over compensated using the front of my shoulder because of the underdevelopment of the back of my shoulder, his answer was for me to exercise the back of my shoulder and in doing so that would stretch the front of my shoulder.
Practicing yoga, I could stretch not only my shoulders and my hips but also my hamstrings, knees, back, calves and all my muscles and tendons. Just after two months of yoga all pain is gone and before where I could not touch the floor with my fingers, I could touch four inches farther. My tendons stretched four inches! My body is getting stretched to its original full potential.
If you will step out of your comfort zone, you can grow and be stretched to your full potential.
Robert Allen Mitchell Sr.
Director Consultant of BNI