I’ve had a very busy week launching my group coaching programme “Imposter Syndrome Sources and Solutions” and doing that has caused me to step outside my comfort zone on several occasions. I’ve actually delivered several Facebook live teaching sessions which was an interesting experience and, at least for a while you can see the teaching content for yourself on my business page.
Relevant to todays newsletter is this video which explores “Why confidence alone won’t conquer your Imposter”
Watch nowBut it did make me think about the role that going out of your comfort zone has in terms of our personal and professional growth.
Most of us tend to live within a narrow boundary that we define as our own comfort zone. We know that pretty much anything that we attempt between the walls that we’ve internally agreed upon is possible for us to achieve.
Anything outside those walls may present a challenge. And a challenge, God forbid, may make us fall flat on our faces.
When did we learn to think like this?
When we were kids we didn’t say, ‘I’d better not learn to walk in case I fall over’. No – we fell over. Over and over again. And most of the time we probably rolled around laughing about it.
We didn’t refuse to speak in case we said something wrong. We DID say things wrong, and people laughed at us. But we learned.
We didn’t look upon writing as something other people did. We practiced until our chicken scratches were intelligible (and if they never did become intelligible we went to medical school).
And then we didn’t say to our teacher, ‘I can’t write a story today because I’ve never done it before.’ We just accepted that this was another challenge to get on with.
So when did you, and I, learn to fear being uncomfortable?
tWhat sets people who achieve things apart from the majority of people is the degree to which they refuse to be struck motionless by their fear of being uncomfortable. They are actually quite keen to be uncomfortable as this stretching of their comfort zone confirms to them that they are challenging themselves, growing, still very much alive.
So today, make an agreement with yourself that you will do one thing that will make you uncomfortable, stretch your comfort zone.
Embrace that discomfort and see it not as a harbinger of doom and defeat, but as a break in the clouds that brings a ray of sunshine to light up your world of opportunities.
If you try to make yourself uncomfortable every single day the walls that surround you won’t just expand, they’ll crumble to reveal a fantastic and exciting world that is yours for the taking.
Mary Kay Ash said,
“Those who are blessed with the most talent don’t necessarily outperform everyone else. It’s the people with follow-through who excel.”
Let me know what you decided to do and how it went for you!
Margare