✏ What’s the Worst: How to Leave the Comfort Zone

You know the scenario — it’s time to make a tough decision for the team and before the discussion has even ended, your heart rate increases and the sweat starts to form on your forehead. The fear is deafening. What will you do? What’s the safe choice? How has it always been done? What requires the least risk?

Enter the comfort zone, otherwise known as the “Lazy Boy” of the mind.

Does this sound familiar? If so, it’s time to  challenge yourself to go beyond mediocrity and take steps toward innovation. If you want change, and you truly believe change is needed, you must raise the bar and get comfortable being uncomfortable. Ask yourself the question, “What’s the worst that can happen if I step outside my comfort zone?” Don’t operate under the fearful impression that hard work and thinking outside the box will automatically be deemed as inexcusable. With the right leadership, your courage will be rewarded.

Did Coke close the company down after it only sold 25 gallons of syrup in its first year?

Did Michael Jordan quit basketball after he was cut from his high school team?

Did Colonel Sanders quit on his dream of Kentucky Fried Chicken when he started at the age of 60?

All of these stories stem from the same motivation. It’s that willingness to abandon the comfort zone and push aside the fear of failure to discover your true purpose. Everything takes both skill and will, but neither come into the equation without risk.

Living a fulfilled life requires you to challenge yourself to realize that you have complete control of your happiness. Every time you push yourself to discover something new, you are growing as a person. Confidence becomes a mindset, and you control your destiny. Instead of asking, “Why do I have to make this decision?,” you start saying, “What is the worst that can happen?!”

It starts with having a well-thought out plan, the right resources and an enthusiasm to challenge the norm. It’s about visualizing what could be and setting goals to achieve that dream. It is having an answer for each barrier disguised as risk.

If you don’t make a commitment to personal growth, you risk feeling regret because you had complete control, but you didn’t seize the opportunity and act. The old saying is so true: in the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take. Why put yourself in that position, when all it takes is the courage to step outside your comfort zone and take a risk? For some, this extremely difficult. Being vulnerable is exposing yourself for everyone to see, and it’s certainly not for everybody.

However, if you want to create change, all you need is a few seconds of courage at the right moment for something amazing to happen. Bottom line, your will to succeed must be greater than your fear to fail.If you have a plan and a piece of it fails, it’s not a stop sign. It’s just a hint that you must find a new way to approach the barrier.

Step out of the comfort zone and allow your voice to be louder than the one in your head telling you to slow down. Move forward to take the risk head on. Open yourself up to the vulnerability of establishing the new you. It is when you have that breakthrough that your real life begins. Instead of rerouting your journey as a result of adversity, you eliminate the barriers and move forward. It is one of the most rewarding feelings you will ever have.

Go do great things today and make a difference.