Why Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

As someone who speaks about change week in week out, I often get asked the question ‘Why would I even WANT to get out of my comfort zone? By definition, when I’m in there, I’m COMFORTABLE!’

There are two reasons why constantly trying new things that challenge and unsettle you is really good for you.

Most people who talk about change management only focus on the first one, that life is more interesting and engaging when you try new things. Variety is the spice of life.

And that’s true. But many people are very, very VERY happy sticking with what they know.

Mountains of psychological research has proven that we are all far more motivated by avoiding pain than they are about moving towards pleasure. That’s why so much advertising and media is based in fear.

So the second reason to get out of your comfort zone is that – in the long term – life is less painful when you do.

Let me explain.

It doesn’t matter how desperately hard we try to stay in our comfort zone, every 2-5 years, life will come a long and slap us WAAAAAAY out of our depth ANYWAY.

Whether it is through tough financial circumstances, a relationship breakdown, the death of a family member, all our lives have these cataclysmic events that happen from time to time. It’s part of being human. We simply cannot avoid it, so we may as well prepare ourselves to handle it well.

Constantly seeking little bits of new inoculates your brain to better handle the huge times of change that the human condition will inevitably throw at you over a lifetime.

And truth be told, we live in the west, if we compare our lives with those of people in some of the troubled hotspots in the world. Things ain’t so bad. I read recently that if you have money in the bank, in your wallet AND in a little saucer by the bed you’re in the top 4% of the world’s population.

So we may as well CHOOSE some regular time out of your comfort zone –

for the positive reasons that variety really is the spice of life and it really is the only way to move towards our goals,

but also because little bits of regular adrenaline helps us better handle those giant events we all have from time to time.

If you’ve got something out of today’s video, please press the like Facebook Like button. And please leave a comment and tell me what is your best tip for setting up a room to keep the audience and the stage connected.

Feel free to check out my video series on taking the fear out of change at martywilson.com.au/videos and I’ll see you soon.