CONTENT TO BECOME YOUR PERSONAL BEST...
Life is full of opportunities to step outside the comfort zone, but grabbing hold of them can be difficult... so look no further.
Sometimes the problem is not being aware of reasons to do so. After all, if the feeling of comfort signifies our most basic needs are being met, why should we seek to abandon it?
What holds people back most of the time is their frame of mind or mindset rather than a lack of knowledge. The trick is to take the leap and have at least 1% of self-belief. This article looks at the shifts in the thinking required to step outside of your comfort zone and into personal growth. Along the way, we’ll outline useful tools, tactics, and examples to help make leaving the comfort zone as rewarding as possible.
First, is believing the impossible is actually possible. You'll need to make it real, at least in writing for now. Get a journal, diary or even a whiteboard and scribble down your positive intentions. You probably see it often, whether it's on some Instagram post or motivational manifesto masterpiece online, we get it, but actually writing it down is said to help you mentally get clear on what you want and clarify your future. Think of it as mental engraving.
Written goals force you to choose specific goals that are important to you. This helps you filter out things like ideas, activities, people and places that aren’t, while focusing on the things you want so that you can keep on track.
Ask yourself:
- Where is that you want to go in life?
- What do you want to accomplish in say the next 5-10 years?
- What type of work do you see yourself doing in the next 5 years?
- What are your long-term fitness goals?
- What are your self-development areas?
- Any acquirable assets in your line of sight within the the next 10 years?
When you set a deadline, your brain takes your goal seriously and with deadlines, you can both measure and break your goal down into actionable steps. Review them fortnightly but don't look at them as exact dates, think of them more as a guide - as naturally things can prop up whether that's unexpected requirements in your career or responsibilities at home - but keeping an eye on your deadlines will ensure you're one step closer to where you want to be. When writing down your goals, ensure your goals and deadlines excite, motivate and inspire you.
Second, is habits. As we get older we get busy with life. Getting busy with life also includes enduring some type of stress. But you can kick the habits with something called discipline. Being a disciplinarian means that you're a person who believes in or practices firm discipline, in a way we're all disciplinarians but it's the act and focus of a specific type of discipline that sets us apart. We choose to focus on easy (lazy) habits like eating bad foods the whole week, consuming large amounts of alcohol (don't pretend like you've never had a crazy night now) or smoking/vaping.
What isn't easy is focusing on the right or should we say healthy habits. Healthy habits means that you consciously make the right decisions even when the wrong ones are in front of you. You see a pack of cookies, you take one out but then you put it down and have a glass of water instead. You choose sweet potato fries instead of regular fries when your out or UberEats'ing and order. Or, you choose to ignore the regular invite with your friends to the bar. These small decisions are known as 'incremental' actions and they amount to huge results but results that you may not see right away. Make a note of some of the examples below beside your goals or add them to your iPhone or Android notes app for quick access:
- My weekly consumption of fruits will include:
- My diet will consist of:
- My daily water intake goal is:
- My daily/weekly supplements and vitamins include:
Escaping the comfort zone may feel like a risk or you may even feel fearful from negative past experiences felt from leaving the comfort zone. But nothing great ever came from sitting on the settee. Take a leap of faith and have an ounce of self-belief because once you've started to see small results you'll find it even harder to stop being disciplined, which is essentially where you want to be. Start your journey now, you should only look back to see how far you've come. No other reason. Period.
The famous American model and Fitness star, Greg Plitt had a saying: "They say if ain't broken, don't fix it... well, if it could be better, it's as good as broken" and we live by this, every single day.