At some point in everybody’s life, human behavior becomes like a locked box. We all long for changes but are reluctant to change ourselves. We want new and better possibilities, but we don’t want to take a risk. While this is happening in every aspect of our lives, the professional aspect of our work is the widest battleground. The biggest factor that ‛freezes’ us in place is a job security. We are keeping our first jobs even though we are not fully satisfied with them just because we’re afraid to leave our comfort zone. That can lead to the halt in your career and then you’ll spend your entire life wasting your full potential. Here are some tips how you can shake up things a little bit, without creating a disastrous earthquake.
You talkin’ to me?
We lose or turn down a lot of opportunities because we fear that we won’t succeed. But when they pass us by, we try to justify ourselves by saying we didn’t have time for that or that those opportunities weren’t really that good. We try to forget about that fear ,try to suppress it and that way we only make it stronger and able to surprise us the next time. The first step out of the comfort zone is to confront yourself in front of the mirror. You have to admit that you do fear of public speaking, conflict, moving away, etc. Only when you meet your excuses face to face, you’ll be able to see how absurd they are.
Move the battle to your ground
The basis for every set back in life is the fear of the unknown. And that big and scary ‛unknown’ simply consists of things you haven’t tried yet. So, if you want to work on building your confidence slowly and not agressively, the easiest way to start something new is to begin with something familiar. If you need to include yourself in a conversation, start with some topic you really like. That way you’ll become relaxed and won’t have any problem to express your opinion on later topics you’re not so familiar with.
Into the minefield
Of course, you can’t remain on the familiar terrain forever, sooner or later you’ll just have to make the first step into ‛the uncomfortable’. And sometimes, in order to do that, you’ll have to set up a mechanism of traps for yourself in order to fall into them. It sounds like deliberately walking into a minefield, but sometimes that’s the only way. Nobody is saying you have to take an actual leap of faith, you can start with small steps. And don’t lose your courage if you stumble, because that is the part of the process. In these situations, you’re like a child entering the world, and the best way to learn is by your missteps.
Gimme danger
Okay, now that you learned how to walk again, it’s time to find a goal that’s worth walking to. Remember to look for it outside of your comfort zone or else all that stumbling around will be for nothing. You require to improve your skills and qualifications, and you won’t do that in a place you’re already familiar with. You’re here for a challenge – don’t run away from less-than-ideal situations because those are really helpful in order to see how far can you go outside your comfort zone.
Hit the road, Jack
No matter if your name is Jack, Jim or John, it will inevitably come a time when you need to go further. The most common reason for lost career opportunities is the reluctance of people to travel to another city or even to another country. Nobody wants to leave their cozy apartments because they are the materialization of your comfort zone you’ve been building your whole life. You got everything set up ideally just for you and now they expect you to move to some unknown territory? No way. But the fact is that you can adapt every place in order to feel like home. If you are the ‛omnia mea mecum porto’ kind of person, and you need professional to give you a hand, consider experienced ones like Your Mate‘s Removals who will make the journey to your new home look like a dream.
Rules schmules – the conclusion
It’s alway good to know all the rules, but it’s even better to know how to avoid them. We said that the first step is to make your own rules, but that should be just the beginning. Every set of rules creates a routine and every routine is a foundation of the comfort zone. Look yourself in the mirror, find all those small routines hiding under the surface and ditch them. Search for situations with different rules, then ditch them too. If you take the journey free of all the routines you’ll realize pretty quick that the world is your oyster.
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