Another year is beginning and it is a good time to reflect on what we want the future to look like. Maybe you have been stuck professionally, emotionally, or relationally. Maybe it is time to get "unstuck" by doing something different. When you leave your comfort zone, amazing things can happen. Instead of life staying the same, day after day, it changes and expands. The more you allow it to expand, the more fulfilling life will be. You don't have to do something crazy like go hang gliding, but here are just a few of the many benefits you receive when you stretch your comfort zone.
1. You’ll Become More Resilient – Life isn’t perfect. It’s full of hard knocks. Being knocked down and getting back up is essential for experiencing a successful life. These trials and tribulations you experience help you become more resilient. When you’re resilient, you can more easily brush yourself off, reevaluate and switch direction when needed.
2. You’ll Get More Done – Being able to pick up the pieces and move on enables you to become that much more productive. You don’t allow issues to stop you from reaching your goals.
3. Your Creativity Will Increase – The comfort zone is where creativity goes stale. When you step outside of your comfort zone, you’ll start experiencing new things which will spark your creativity in ways you don’t even know yet. You’ll have many more resources to pull from to fuel your creativity.
4. Your Knowledge Will Expand – As you expand your comfort zone, your knowledge will expand too. Leaving your comfort zone is not about jumping off a cliff without mitigating the risk. Instead, it gives you the opportunity to learn and research the choices you want to make and the things you want to try.
5. You’ll Become More Self Assured – You’ll gain a boost in confidence each time you step forward and leave your comfort zone. The experiences you’re having while expanding your comfort zone will make the next thing you want to try even easier.
6. You Will Grow as a Person – Pushing through your fears changes your core being. That change will register as growth for you and will feel great too because you’ll get to know yourself on a deeper level. Knowing who you are is essential to choosing the right goals for you and reaching them each and every time.
7. Your Focus Will Be Higher – When you leave your comfort zone, you’re going to feel more alive than you have in a long while because it’s new. The things you hear, see, smell and feel will be that much more apparent to you as you focus on being mindful and in the present.
8. You’ll Be More Likely to Succeed – When you expand your comfort zone, you keep everything in perspective, so you set realistic goals and create realistic plans to reach them. Doing this helps you succeed at everything you do.
When your comfort zone expands, you become that much smarter, more resilient, and able to get so much more accomplished. One thing builds on another allowing you to achieve more at will. You get to know yourself in a more in-depth manner, realizing you are in total control of your life, so you live a more fulfilled and happier life. If you need some direction, we have a printable Get Out of Your Comfort Zone Planning Journal that will help you get started.
Keep an eye out for our next post for some more ideas on how to get out of your comfort zone. We also have developed a printable planner that will help you get started. It is full of motivational quotes as well as places for goal setting, facing challenges, celebrating accomplishments and journaling about your journey.
