HOW TO BREAK THROUGH YOUR COMFORT ZONE
DON’T LET COMFORT KEEP YOU FROM YOUR GREATNESS
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”
You were meant for more. All of us were meant for more. Yet, it’s easy to live in the mediocrity of “shoulda, woulda, coulda's” and continue to dream about a better (life, business, body).
It intrigues me that the world is filled with people wanting more out of life yet few actually achieve whatever “more” means to them.
I’ve learned (from personal experience) that it boils down to “the comfort zone”: It’s just plain hard to change anything outside of our own level of comfort.
Call it “changing a habit” or “changing a lifestyle”, or whatever you want, the bottom line regarding achieving goals is this: whatever it is that we want to achieve in life requires us to push past that inner voice that keeps us exactly where we are firmly, comfortably, planted right now, today.
And it’s hard.
I believe that if you want to change something in your life, really change it, you have to realize that you aren’t going to just wake up one day and finally “feel” like pushing through that hard wall of change.
“You aren’t going to just wake up one day and finally feel like pushing through that hard wall of change.”
I guess that thought was revolutionary to me because I kept putting off losing weight, thinking that one day I would just magically be ready to do it and “feel like” exercising and eating healthy. But nothing magical ever happened.
I’ve met so many people who want to “become an entrepreneur“ or “make money with a camera” or “leave that day-job” or “build that dream business” or “create an online side-hustle”, but when it comes down to doing the hard stuff, stepping into the action-plan and pushing hard towards the goal, they stop dead in their tracks.
Instead, most of these people “keep talking about it” rather than doing it. Why? I believe it’s because it’s more comfortable to dream about it and talk about than it is to do anything concrete about it.
And let’s face it, hard work isn’t glamorous or sexy. You don’t see the changes overnight and you don’t get to walk in the glory of the dream right away.
“Let’s face it, hard work isn’t glamorous or sexy.”
I guess the experts might summarize it to say that it’s called “hiding behind the procrastination of perfectionism”. And I can relate to that.
I find it easy to put off today what I can do better tomorrow. It gives me one more day to work on it and perfect it. Plan it. Create the idea around it. Shape it. Learn about it. Strategize for it.
Anything but…do it.
Except for that one day last summer.
I woke up like any other day, talking myself out of working out just as I was about to put on my sneakers and work-out clothes. I didn’t really feel like working out and I hadn’t done it for all of these years so why not “dream about it” for one more day?
But then I said something out loud, audibly, to myself. Something I had never said before: “Do it ANYWAY.”
I quietly put on my sneakers. I got dressed in my work out clothes. I put my hair in a scrunchy bun.
I heard an inner voice say “but I really don’t feel like doing this today…”
“Do it ANYWAY”, I said out loud.
I grabbed my phone and earbuds and continued towards the door. And then I walked through that door and went to work out.
“I grabbed my phone + earbuds and continued through the door. And then I walked through that door and went to work out.”
Something happened that day that changed the course of my life: I made the decision that I was never going to “feel like” leaving the nest of comfort. I was never going to “feel like” doing the hard things. I was never going to “feel like” making a difficult change.
Instead, I had to DO IT ANYWAY.
I’ve come to realize that people who pursue their dreams and goals including fitness, life and business success never feel like doing the hard stuff. They don’t have magical fairy dust sprinkled over their heads.
They don’t feel like working out or pushing through the scary stuff to get to the other side…they just do it anyway.
“Doing it anyway” doesn’t require that you have any extra ability, looks, degree, circumstances, money, fame, followers, or friends. It just requires a deep desire to get to the other side of where you are right now.
This brings me to the part where I give you the “steps” as to how to “do it anyway”.
Ready? It’s to the point without the fluff. Because there isn’t any fluff. There isn’t any fairy dust or magic pill.
5 STEPS TO BREAK THE COMFORT ZONE:
01/ You are never going to feel like leaving a warm bed to go work out. DO IT ANYWAY.
02/ You are never going to magically want to stop eating the food that is making you fat. DO IT ANYWAY.
03/ You are never going to “not be afraid” to make the changes you have to make to start that new (business, blog, life-journey, side-hustle, life). DO IT ANYWAY.
04/ You are never going to live in all of the right circumstances to finally take the steps you have to take to move forward into that new (life, job, fill in the blank). DO IT ANYWAY.
05/ The world is never going to uniformly cheer you on and support you and tell you that you are good enough and ready for (fill in the blank —- whatever it is that you are dreaming about, wanting, needing to do because you were called to do it). DO IT ANYWAY.
At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, if not now, WHEN? It’s never going to get easy.
DO IT ANYWAY.
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