This week we’re taking a closer look at getting outside our comfort zone so that we can start taking steps toward our goals and desires. If you haven’t read or listened to the previous three parts of this series, please stop and go through those first.
- Kiss Your Comfort Zone Goodbye – Mini-Series (Intro)
- Defining Your WHAT and WHY – Kiss Your Comfort Zone Goodbye (Part 1)
- Creating Objectives – Kiss Your Comfort Zone Goodbye (Part 2)
The ultimate purpose of this mini-series is to help you take bigger and better action so that you can start moving toward your goals and dreams. This mini-series isn’t just about listening to me talk. It requires action on your part in order to be an effective learning tool. Each day includes an exercise and discussion that builds upon the last, so it’s important to start from the beginning of this series.
For everyone else, let’s get started with a brief recap.
Recap of Yesterday – Creating Objectives
Yesterday we talked about selecting high-priority items from our original list of “WHATs” and “WHYs” and turning them into Objectives with several possible actions that will help us to achieve our goal.
An objective is a goal. And in our case, these goals that you’ve listed are backed by your driving force. These goals represent you, your beliefs, your morals, your values and everything else that defines who you are at the core of your being.
If you participate in my full program when it is released, you will learn additional steps and techniques to use to take action and to tear down your comfort zone barriers.
Growth and progress are uncomfortable. If you aren’t finding opportunities on a daily basis that press the boundaries of your comfort zone, you aren’t trying hard enough. Change takes action and action requires facing our fears, our excuses, our inhibitions and even our lack of motivation.
All of these topics and more are covered in my full “Reaching the Peak” program which I look forward to officially announcing in the very near future.
Commit to Moving Forward
Once you commit to an objective and decide that…
Then you are in the perfect position to start getting out there and making things happen. From now on, you will commit to doing at least one action from your list in Exercise 2 every single day.
Now hold on, before you balk at this and throw your hands in the air saying, “no way.” Let’s talk about why this is important and why you can manage to make it happen.
Some actions in your list are going to be simple steps that you have no problem executing while other action items may terrify you. You’ll want to procrastinate because even the idea of doing them makes you want to hide or run away.
But what’s the worst that can happen? Could you fail and need to try again? Sure. Could you succeed? You bet. And then where will you be? Progress is motivating!
The point or goal behind committing to producing results vs staying in your comfort zone is to get in the habit of taking action and scale your way up to higher thresholds of comfort zone busting!
The longer you give yourself to achieve a goal, the more likely you are to never reach it. If your objective is important to you and you agree that producing results is more important than being comfortable, then you are ready to take the next step. You can do this.
Exercise 3 – Taking Massive Action
In an effort to keep this article a reasonable length, today’s exercise is an abbreviated version of what you’d find in my full program. Even so, what we’ll cover should be enough to help you move forward, so here we go.
STEP 1 – Dissect Your Actions
Select one of the Objectives from yesterday’s exercise. Look for through your action list for that objective and
The reason I tell you to do it this way is to help you find action item that have the biggest impact while creating the least amount of pushback from you. Sometimes it’s best to simply start with some easy wins. For starters we just want to get into a habit of taking action on a daily basis, so start easy.
On the other hand, you may also want to start with the action items with the lowest combined RQ + FQ score as a way to get the biggest bang for your buck, so to speak. When you take this head-first approach, you may just find yourself at the finish line without even needing to address the other action items.
Regardless of whether you go head-first or want to dip your toes in with some easy wins, we’re going to expand upon each of the actions you’ve listed under your objective by answering or writing down the following.
Complete the following for EACH of your actions:
- Describe the action in more detail
- List the desired outcome of the action
- Specify how you will hold yourself accountable for the action
- List all of your fears or any potential negatives associated with executing the action
- List all of the potential positives that could result from executing the action
You don’t necessarily have to write all of these things out for each action, but doing so can be helpful at first until you can fully embody the process emotionally.
STEP 2 – Break Down Your Fears
Once you’ve completed this exercise for an action, you need to take it one step further and begin to break down and rationalize your fears.
Are your fears legit? Are they based on past experiences or things others have told you? Are they based on things you learned years ago? Are you concerned about losing something you value? Being embarrassed? Being rejected?
What’s the worst that could happen if these things occur?
Research Your Fears
Oftentimes we can create a new perspective simply by researching our fears. Maybe we’re afraid to do something because we haven’t done it before. If so, try researching ways to do it. You may just find that it’s not as overwhelming as you originally thought. If you think something could be a potential issue in achieving your action based on something you learned years before, look into it. What you learned before may no longer hold true today.
Talk to others about your fears. They may just have a different perspective or some guidance they can provide.
Just today I took my dog to the vet. I mentioned that we feed him a grain-free dog food because I’d heard that was what we were supposed to do. It was said to be better for them. My vet said that there have been some new studies by veterinarians lately that are proving that grain-free is NOT necessarily better for dogs. Had I not brought it up, I wouldn’t have gained a new perspective on the matter. Before today, I had stayed clear of any dog foods containing grain. Now the next time we need dog food, I plan to choose a high-quality food that includes grain.
Talking to others and researching our fears or reasons for doing or NOT doing something can change our perspective into one that is less fearful.
Exercise Takeaway
The goal with this exercise is to break down barriers and excuses your mind has put up to keep you from stretching outside your comfort zone.
As you work through your list of actions, you will start to see how some of your fear quotient ratings may diminish to something less uncomfortable. This will help you to start taking action more easily.
Remember, your brain is wired to keep you safe. But the choice is still yours, so how will you choose to handle it?
That’s all I have for you for today. Tomorrow we will talk a bit about how to find time to take action daily – even if you run multiple businesses, care for 3 kids, do the house cleaning, walk the dog, cook the meals, take kids to all of their Dr appointments and after-school activities, and more. I promise, there is
Where there is a will, there is a way. You can do this.
Share Your Progress!
If you would like to share your thoughts or progress, please feel free to leave me a message using the contact form or by leaving your thoughts in the comments area below this article.
Please Share This Series!
If you are finding benefit from participating in this mini-series, please share it with your friends and co-workers so that more people can learn how to Kiss Their Comfort Zone Goodbye and start taking action toward their own goals.
Growth and progress are uncomfortable, but the benefits are well worth it! The more you put into this, the more you’ll get out of it, so get working on expanding those actions and dissecting those fears!
Thanks again for reading. I hope you will join me again tomorrow for our fourth and final part in this mini-series.
You’ve got this!
