How To Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone (And Enlarge Your Territory) – 3 Simple Ways
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Do you want to get out of your comfort zone?
Learning to get out of your comfort zone, that psychological space where you feel most safe, at ease and familiar with your surroundings, is really quite simple.
Just do some things you don’t normally do. Yay!
Glad we got that solved.
Seriously, the “how to’s” of getting out of your comfort zone are not the hard parts…
It’s deciding to do it in the first place that’s often difficult.
So why would you want to leave your comfort zone?
Well, let’s ask some questions.
Are you feeling “stuck” in life? Are you bored?
Is your creative “juice” gone? Do you feel constrained?
Are you in need of a spark; something to jump-start your life or re-set your purpose or direction?
If you’re experiencing any of these things, then getting out of your comfort zone is something that can help.
How, you ask?
When you get out of your comfort zone, you challenge yourself.
You move from an environment that is completely comfortable and predictable to one that is unfamiliar and causes discomfort.
Both circumstances heighten your attention and your stress level.
Your “spidey senses” increase, which informs and alters the way you experience.
Your altered means of experience then pushes you to perceive things differently, which causes you to think and act differently than what is normal to you.
This causes your overall experience to be different than what is the norm for you.
And when you move outside of your normal, your mind is opened to different perspectives, new possibilities and new solutions.
Getting out of your comfort zone expands your mind which changes your experience, which changes who you are, which changes your life. Get it?
So what are the benefits of getting out of your comfort zone?
- Learning more about yourself (increased awareness)
- Personal growth (changing the way you are and behave in the world because of your experiences)
- Gaining new perspectives (being able to see things from a new point of view)
- Increased confidence (to face your fears and to trust yourself, your intuition and your decisions)
- Better resilience and adaptability (to better handle unforeseen circumstances/change)
- Greater openness to new experiences (and allowing those experiences to change your overall life experience)
Now that we know how getting out of our comfort zones can benefit us, let’s look at a few different ways to do it.
1. Meet Someone New – Strike up a conversation.
Walk up to a total stranger, someone who is obviously very different from you, introduce yourself and say something complimentary or pleasant.
Doesn’t have to be complicated or a big production.
Find someone at the grocery store, the clothing store, at a meeting or an event and start a conversation.
2. Volunteer – Your local library, historical society, nursing home, senior’s center, girl scout troop, adult learning center, women’s shelter, after school program, women’s mentoring program, and food bank all need your help.
Your time, your experience, your caring, your skills are all valuable assets and tools these entities can use.
You will not only get out of your comfort zone and extend your boundaries by interacting with people outside your norm, you’ll provide services that your community desperately wants and needs.
3. Take A Trip – Whether it’s just across town or across the state, visit someplace new.
Explore that funky neighborhood with the quaint shops and artists’ studios, book a helicopter ride, tour that nearby small town community, go camping.
Travel to someplace you’ve never been and fully experience what it has to offer.
Learning how to get out of your comfort zone is as much about deciding to open yourself to new possibilities as it is doing things that are new to you.
And while your comfort zone is a place of security and comfort for you, if your desire is to make life better, richer, fuller, then you have to be willing to step out of your boundaries so that you can learn, and strengthen, and grow.
Was this post helpful to you? If so, please let me know in the comments, and then think about who, in your circle of friends, family or just someone you know, that would be encouraged and benefit from this information in their personal journey. Share this post with them. Thanks!
Kimberly Clay is the founder and creative force behind What She Say. She’s a business professional, writer and editor who’s been creating and managing digital content for nearly twenty years. Her work is now focused in the areas of self-improvement and personal development, and she is passionate about helping other individuals, especially women, to find a path for living their best life.
