Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
Fear, ego, pride, and discomfort….and the list goes on. Wow! There are so many reasons to not do something, right? Staying in our box of comfort is just that, comfortable. Getting uncomfortable, however, is a necessary part of our own personal growth, and oftentimes helps us overcome long-held judgments.
I was reflecting on an occasion when I was working with a personal training client who told me all of the reasons he thought an exercise we were doing was dumb. I assure you that he was putting forth effort on par with his enthusiasm. “It’s not like I’m getting anything out of this anyway,” he said. So I replied, “Do you think you’d get more out of it if you tried with more than minimum interest?”
After acknowledging and honoring his dislike of the activity (which was a variation of side shuffling down the floor with resistance), and further understanding he felt ridiculous doing it because it wasn’t “guy-like” in his mind, I asked if he would just give it a real shot without judgment. So he did.
Two days later he let me know about his soreness in all the right places and decided that maybe it was a decent activity, even if “odd” by his standards. I’ll take that as a victory!
There are two lessons here:
- We get out what we put in.
- Outside of your comfort zone is where real change happens.
What will you do outside of your comfort zone this week?