It’s very easy for us to fall victim to what is comfortable. What your mind convinces you to be the safe route is really what is holding you back from expanding your potential; here is how to leave your comfort zone:
- Recognize How Comfort Affects You: Deep down, no matter what you tell yourself to justify your behaviour, you know that your comfort zone is holding you back. It might seem like there is no alternative to living within this sphere, but that’s only because you have convinced yourself of something untrue. The first step in understanding how to leave your comfort zone is to be honest with yourself, recognizing that comfort is affecting your drive toward better things and experiences. You must realize that experiencing discomfort consistently will not only toughen you, but broaden your perspective on what you thought was possible. It will allow you to grow in ways that might shock you, and eventually – once experiencing difficulty has been made a habit – you’ll see improvements in health, mindset, social settings, habits, personal finance, and the list goes on. You have to be willing to sacrifice fleeting pleasure often and instead, face what is difficult.
- Take Note of Everything That Makes Up Your Comfort Zone: Once you’ve understood how the feeling of comfort is affecting your life, the next step is to become conscious of absolutely everything that is a part of that comfort zone. From the environment to your behaviour within the environment. For example, let’s say you want to start going to the gym, but at the end of every day – once you’re done with your responsibilities – you see your TV in the living room and decide to binge a Netflix show. This gives you pleasure, and to top it off, that bag of chips you bought on sale at the grocery store would be great to have while watching your show. But even though this feels good to you, in the back of your mind you’re reminded that you’re neglecting the gym. So really, it doesn’t feel good in the grand scheme of things. In this case, the living room that has the TV and couch says “safety” and “comfortable”, and once you’ve fallen victim to that temptation, you figure you might as well indulge in junk food to multiply that feeling. That specific environment facilities the behaviour, among other factors like emotional state. These triggers should become a warning sign for you as they can either work for you or against you in the process of how to leave your comfort zone.
- Start Small: There are two approaches you can take when starting to detach from your comfort zone: gradually or cold-turkey. Even though the cold-turkey method allows you to rid yourself completely of what makes you feel comfortable, it can be short-lived as it’s difficult. Difficult, but possible, mind you. However, the gradual approach allows you to accrue small wins, and this is more effective as you’re teaching your mind to tolerate discomfort over time. In a long-term sense, there is less of a chance of you falling back into your comfort zone and losing progress. This can be as small as going one more day per week of abstaining from comfort – try experimenting with different gradual approaches. Keep in mind that aiming at even a 1% improvement from your last attempt will compound your ability to succeed. This is the action phase, critically important and what should be emphasized in understanding how to leave your comfort zone.
- Believe in Your Abilities: A confident mindset geared toward success is definitely not something to be overlooked – the mental game is half the battle in understanding how to leave your comfort zone. Visualization is powerful; try imagining your old self being left behind while your new, better self emerges. This will create a concrete goal in your mind, and once a goal is set with a sufficiently strong “why” behind it, discipline, determination and grit will flow more naturally. Once you feel the urge to fall back into comfort, you’re reminded of how dissatisfying it was to be the old you – a memory that should make discomfort sound more appealing.