Five tips: How to leave your comfort zone

Five tips: How to leave your comfort zone

You have heard it before: "Moving yourself out of your comfort zone" is the well -known sentence that is spoken by many entrepreneurs, gurus and mentors. As a small business owner, I learned to appreciate the wise advice to leave my comfort zone in business, in relationships and in life. As a licensed marriage and family therapist in a non-profit advice center, I was quickly disillusioned by the amount of time, emotional energy and effort that I had to spend as a consultant for an extremely low income.

I longed to spend more time with my boys and my husband, but I had to pay student loans, license fees and association contributions - so I continued to work for the non -profit advice center. When I started to go to a private practice, I found all kinds of good reasons why I shouldn't do it.

At some point, all fears that I had before the change prevailed through the intensive desire to move into my own office and to practice marriage and family therapy in my own way. I took my first step and looked for an office that I was able to rent from another therapist for the hour. I started telling everyone that I knew I would go to a private practice, and soon I accepted some clients. It felt so good to meet customers in an office in which I was responsible for how long the session would take, which specific treatment method should be used and what kind of session was to be calculated depending on the needs of the customer. That was my first step outside of my comfort zone.

In the fast lead at the present moment, I now practice as a therapist and coach for small companies and help other alternative practitioners and creative types to start and expand the business of your dreams. Now that I work as I always wanted, it is an interesting phenomenon that I am always tempted to keep things safe and comfortable. I have to consciously strive to leave my comfort zone every day.

Here are 5 tips that help business owners to leave their comfort zone and get into the adventure and success zone:

1. Change your thoughts - everyone has to fight with restrictive thought patterns from time to time, but since thoughts determine feelings and behavior, it is important to learn to use these negative thoughts and to replace them with reality -related, positive thoughts. It is absolutely correct that this thought pattern focuses our spirit-body system on promising behaviors when we decide to pay attention to the positive aspects of life.

start to examine these annoying little ones “what if” questions that creep in our heads. Questions like: "What if I invest in this form of advertising and it doesn't work?" "What if I open my own office and don't get enough business to pay the rent?" These are the type of fear -based questions that you keep in your comfort zone. Use these questions and replace them with positive “what if” questions. "What if I write some articles about my field and think that I really enjoy it?" "What if I speak at a association meeting and could convey my passion for my work?"

2. Move through the fear with action. Use your fears to challenge yourself to new heights. The best antidote against fear is to become active. Get adventurous to everything you fear. Are you afraid of calling this successful entrepreneur who may help you? Just do it - write down a short script, practice it out loud and then take the phone and call it. Are you afraid to speak of groups? Perhaps you could join Toast Masters and learn to speak in a group in which everyone else learns. The crazy of fear is that it is an emotion that rarely is based on the truth. Do not let a distorted version of reality prevent you from making profits, taking measures and overcoming fear.

3. Imagine the next successful level. The brain can easily create new nerve pathways if we address as many senses as possible, so create a mental film that is rich in details. What would it look like if you have achieved this big goal? What sights, smells, tastes and feelings will you experience when you have achieved this goal? Take a few 5-minute breaks all day to relax with deep breaths and make your mental film. The more you imagine that you will achieve your goal, the more likely you are that you will leave your comfort zone to develop the new thoughts and behaviors required for success.

4. Take a hobby or sport that leads you out of your comfort zone. Some entrepreneurs go skydiving or windsurfing-this enables them to experience the spirit-body feeling of feeling, to do something new and to overcome fear. You don't necessarily have to take up a risky hobby or sport to leave the comfort zone. You could try something as easy as to hike a little longer or higher than usual, to visit a sculpture course, paint a picture without taking care of the result or joining a community soft ball team.

The emotional and mental experience of trying out a new hobby or a new sport becomes an extended vision for your company. It will make it easier to try new approaches, to have new thoughts and to break new ground, to do business.

5. Invest money in your company. In close times, we tend to shorten our marketing budget, research and development as well as new devices or software. Instead of giving up the temptation to shorten growth -promoting expenses, you will find some clever ways to invest in your company that signal your own psyche that you are willing to invest your money where your mouth is. This moves us from our comfort zone by strengthening our trust in ourselves and in our business and bringing some skin into play.

Now I moved to another adventure zone- I added coaching for small companies that got me out of the comfort zone just to practice marriage and family therapy. Now people rely on helping them, their talents, gifts and passion to combine to create the business of their dreams.

An important part of this process is self -discovery. I use the Myers-Briggs type indicator to help people discover their unique personality traits so that they can play their strengths and find ways to work with their weaknesses. To a certain extent, your personality determines how much risk you want to take, how well you take risks and how you can best leave your personal comfort zone.

If you need help to leave your comfort zone, one of the best ways to get support is to get a coach, mentor, consultant or an objective person who helps you set new goals and reach for the stars.