23
Sep
Articles, Building better men

8 REASONS TO GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Posted on by Inga | 12 comments

Your comfort zone is a wonderful place to be. It’s where you feel most loved, secure, and content. It’s different for everyone. It might be at the office, where you’ve worked for 20 odd years. Your comfort zone might even be something that in some people’s eyes would be seen as highly uncomfortable, like hiking through the Himalayas.

The point is, that your comfort zone is relative, it’s wherever you feel most at ease. So for the adrenaline junky – a day in the life of a CA in an office, would be completely out of their comfort zone. Your zone can even be quite big – you may not even see yourself as an introvert, but ask yourself this – when last did you do something that made you nervous? Something that broke through that soft, cozy layer of comfort, to find out something new about yourself and the very large and exciting world around you?

So why leave this happy place? Here are 10 reasons why you should break out of your comfort zone:

  1. You will grow as a person
    Breaking out of your comfort zone doesn’t have an age limit. It is never too late to do something, even slightly, out of your bubble of content. Even if it backfires, I guarantee you would’ve learnt something new.
  2. Challenging yourself can help you perform at your peak
    Similar to the notion that busy people are the most productive, if you are anxious or nervous about something – it means you are on high alert, it means you care about the outcome of whatever you’re nervous about. Generally speaking, this means when we challenge ourselves, we tend to rise to the occasion.
  3. You’ll deal with change more easily
    We can only plan so much of what happens in our lives, but there is obviously so much that just happens. From small, seemingly insignificant things like always evolving technology we work with, to big things like death. According to Brené Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston, one of the worst things we can do is pretend fear and uncertainty don’t exist. By taking risks in a controlled fashion and challenging yourself to things you normally wouldn’t do, you can experience some of that uncertainty in a controlled, manageable environment. Learning to live outside your comfort zone when you choose to can prep you for life changes that force you out of it.
  4. Self-esteem boost
    A common reason for remaining in the layers of comfort is that you don’t think you can handle whatever is out of there, or it doesn’t appeal to you. In this instance, it might be something like learning to surf – but you’re so scared of making a fool of yourself that you have never actually tried. You’ll instantly feel better about yourself if you even just try doing something small that scares you.
  5. You’ll learn to embrace failure more/better
    This links closely with the previous reason. Failure stops us from doing so much in life. Once you accept that failing at something is the worst-case scenario and it really isn’t that bad, you’ll be a lot more open to it and probably end up succeeding, because your focus wasn’t on failing. You definitely have to fail a couple of times to realize it’s never as bad as you think. Failure makes life more interesting; how you handle failure says a lot about you as a person – so why not have a few practice rounds so you handle it as best you can.
  6. It’ll make you feel more alive
    So many people exist, but they don’t actually LIVE! That feeling of your heart pumping against your chest, that adrenaline sensation that no one can quite describe. It might be before you jump out of the airplane with your parachute, or ask someone out on a date. Whatever makes you feel most alive and inspired. This all happens out of your space of comfort.
  7. No regrets
    ‘No regrets’ is one of those sayings that for most people, is a tired expression. Maybe it is, but let’s be honest, is YOLO much better? If you think about it, regrets are a catch 22. If you do something you might think to yourself ‘I wish I hadn’t done that but then again, you sometimes want to kick yourself for not doing something when you should’ve. It’s all a confusing circle of regrets. I think, if your gut is telling you it’s what you should do at that time, you should do it. If you regret it at a later stage, so be it. Regretting something is a huge waste of energy – there are no time machines for us to fix our errors. However, what you can do is learn from it.
  8. Inspire others

Inspiration often has a chain reaction. You see someone doing something inspiring, you think to yourself, wow….. maybe I can do that too. Maybe you know someone with a similar comfort zone to yours, maybe they live in your comfort zone? Why not lead by example and inspire them to do something with you? People notice things, whether you realize it or not. People are watching you, and what you do gives them an inspiring model for growth and change.

So start today, start with something small. There are no rules when it comes to you branching out. Change your daily routine, contact a friend you haven’t seen in years, apply for a new job, and start studying again – the list of things to do is endless. Remember, it’s all relative. Don’t compare your zone to others, you will know intrinsically when you are truly ‘living’ and you will slowly peel away the layers of comfort to create something bigger and better for you and the people around you.

Will you try to get out of your comfort zone? Let us know if the comments below 

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12 thoughts on “8 REASONS TO GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE”

  1. ayandagwegwana4 G. says:

    Great article guys I love this topic, I wish everyone can read this article. Let me tell you my story. I grew up in a small township called Paarl in Cape Town. I used to hangout with friends a lot, we were smoking hooker, having great chat, talking about girls and plan where are we going to party on weekends and that was the only thing we talked about when we together. It was my comfort zone, I would spend 8 to 10 hours of my day with them & nothing positive that talked about it was really nice. There was this day I realized that what I’m doing won’t take me anywhere, I started staying indoors since I had nothing to do. I searched on the internet what can I do as a young person who still learning life. I went to look for work & I got a workplace at Checkers I was a packer I met a friend who was very active in life. We talked and got to know each other well, to find out he was a model, I told him my story and wanted to be a model as well. He took me to his agency and I was really scared to do modeling because I knew that my friends are going to laugh at me. Well I went to rehearsals I did my thing & I had a very tiny body, I started working out, I started doing things I never thought I would ever do in life. Modeling really boosted my self-confidence now I’m a radio presenter I do many things.

    This is a very good article I love it.

  2. Thabo M. says:

    Thank you so much for this informative article. And another thing to remember is that: the next moment is not guaranteed so we must live and make the best out of each situation.