How to Break Out of Your Comfort ZoneOver time, we all gather a set of constricting habits around us—ones that trap us in a zone of supposed comfort, well below what our potential would allow us to attain. Pretty soon, such habits slip below the level of our consciousness, but they still determine what we think that we can and cannot do—and what we cannot even bring ourselves to try. As long as you let these habits rule you, you’ll be stuck in a rut.

Like the tiny, soft bodied creatures that build coral reefs, habits start off small and flexible, and end up by building massive barriers of rock all around your mind. Inside the reefs, the water feels quiet and friendly. Outside you think it’s going to be rough and stormy. There may be sharks. But if you’re to develop in any direction from where you are today, you must go outside that reef of habits that marks the boundaries of your comfort zone. There’s no other way. There’s even nothing specially wrong with those habits as such. They probably worked for you in the past. But now it’s time to step over them and go into the wider world of your unused potential. Your fears don’t know what’s going to be out there, so they invent monsters and scary beasts to keep you inside.

Nobody’s born with an instruction manual for life. Despite all the helpful advice from parents, teachers and elders, each of us must make our own way in the world, doing the best we can and quite often getting things wrong. Messing up a few times isn’t that big a deal. But if you get scared and try to avoid all mistakes by sticking with just a few “tried and true” behaviors, you’ll miss out on most opportunities as well. Lots of people who suffer from boredom at work are doing it to themselves. They’re bored and frustrated because that’s what their choices have caused them to be. They’re stuck in ruts they’ve dug for themselves while trying to avoid making mistakes and taking risks. People who never make mistakes never make anything else either.

It’s time to pin down the habits that have become unconscious and are running your life for you, and get rid of them. Here’s how to do it:

1. Understand the truth about your habits. They always represent past successes. You have formed habitual, automatic behaviors because you once dealt with something successfully, tried the same response next time, and found it worked again. That’s how habits grow and why they feel so useful. To get away from what’s causing your unhappiness and workplace blues, you must give up on many of your most fondly held (and formerly successful) habits. and try new ways of thinking and acting. There truly isn’t any alternative. Those habits are going to block you from finding new and creative ideas. No new ideas, no learning. No learning, no access to successful change.

2. Do something—almost anything—differently and see what happens. Even the most successful habits eventually lose their usefulness as events change the world and fresh responses are called for. Yet we cling on to them long after their benefit

has gone. Past strategies are bound to fail sometime. Letting them become automatic habits that take the controls is a sure road to self-inflicted harm.

3. Take some time out and have a detailed look at yourself—with no holds barred. Discovering your unconscious habits can be tough. For a start, they’re unconscious, right? Then they fight back. Ask anyone who has ever given up smoking if habits are tough to break. You’ve got used to them—and they’re at least as addictive as nicotine or crack cocaine.

4. Be who you are. It’s easy to assume that you always have to fit in to get on in the world; that you must conform to be liked and respected by others or face exclusion. Because most people want to please, they try to become what they believe others expect, even if it means forcing themselves to be the kind of person they aren’t, deep down.

You need to start by putting yourself first. You’re unique. We’re all unique, so saying this doesn’t suggest that you’re better than others or deserve more than they do. You need to put yourself first because no one else has as much interest in your life as you do; and because if you don’t, no one else will. Putting others second means giving them their due respect, not ignoring them totally. Keeping up a self-image can be a burden. Hanging on to an inflated, unrealistic one is a curse. Give yourself a break.

5. Slow down and let go. Most of us want to think of ourselves as good, kind, intelligent and caring people. Sometimes that’s true. Sometimes it isn’t. Reality is complex. We can’t function at all without constant input and support from other people. Everything we have, everything we’ve learned, came to us through someone else’s hands. At our best, we pass on this borrowed existence to others, enhanced by our contribution. At our worst, we waste and squander it. So recognize that you’re a rich mixture of thoughts and feelings that come and go, some useful, some not. There’s no need to keep up a façade; no need to pretend; no need to fear of what you know to be true.

When you face your own truth, you’ll find it’s an enormous relief. If you’re maybe not as wonderful as you’d like to be, you aren’t nearly as bad as you fear either. The truth really does set you free; free to work on being better and to forgive yourself for being human; free to express your gratitude to others and recognize what you owe them; free to acknowledge your feelings without letting them dominate your life. Above all, you’ll be free to understand the truth of living: that much of what happens to you is no more than chance. It can’t be avoided and is not your fault. There’s no point in beating yourself up about it.

What is holding you in situations and actions that no longer work for you often isn’t inertia or procrastination. It’s the power of habitual ways of seeing the world and thinking about events. Until you can let go of those old, worn-out habits, they’ll continue to hold you prisoner. To stay in your comfort zone through mere habit, or—worse still—to stay there because of irrational fears of what may lie outside, will condemn you to a life of frustration and regret.

If you can accept the truth about the world and yourself, change whatever is holding you back, and get on with a fresh view on life, you’ll find that single action lets you open the door of your self-imposed prison and walk free. There’s a marvelous world out there. You’ll see, if you try it.

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It’s easy to get stuck.

Nestle yourself deeper and deeper into that warm, safe and comforting comfort zone.

But if you want to improve your life you’ll sooner or later need to step out of that zone. Because it’s there you’ll find all those new and exciting experiences. Where you’ll find freedom from boredom.

Here are 8 ideas that can help you get out of your comfort zone. Some are ways to make the process easier. Some are ways you may not have thought of (or forgotten).

1. Face your fears. But do it in small steps.

This is one of the best ways to overcome fears and get out of your comfort zone. What holds us back in our zone of comfort is often a fear or that facing that fear straight on might be overwhelming. This is a solution to those two problems. It allows you to stretch your comfort zone slowly making it less uncomfortable and frightening.

If you’re for instance nervous socially you might not feel able to ask people out on dates right away. The fear of being rejected and that others might think less of you if you get turned down can make many of us feel unable to ask the question.

So you take small steps instead. Steps like first just saying hi to people. Or starting to talk more to people online via forums and Instant Messaging. And then trying to be more involved in conversations at work or in school to exercise your conversation-muscles.

I guess one could say that you gradually de-sensitize yourself to social situations or whatever you are afraid of. Or, seeing it in a more motivating light, that you are building courage and expanding your comfort zone in this part of your life (which is something that often seeps over to other areas of life too.)

So, identify your fear. Then make a plan with some smaller steps you can take to gradually lessen your discomfort.

2. Try something weird.

One obvious way to move out of your comfort zone is to do something new. But a more interesting option might be to think of doing something weird. When you choose something new you may choose something that is line with your personality. So your

experiences can become limited. Instead, choose something that’s out of character for you. Something that isn’t you as you are right now. Something that you - and/or the people close to you - wouldn’t think that you would do.

3. Make a new acquaintance.

This will expose your to new experiences, opinions and interests. And it’s not just about meeting new people the usual way. Try just picking up a biography about someone you know nothing about. Start reading a book from a writer you haven’t read before. Read about a random topic at Wikipedia. Or add an unexpected RSS-feed about something you normally never read about.

4. Take a friend with you.

In general, it’s often easier to not go it alone. And this applies to many situations. Including when you are going for the emotional bungee jump that getting out of your comfort zone can be.

I’d say this probably the most popular way to get yourself out of comfort zones. If you are going to a party where you know few people then it may be easier to bring a friend. If you have decided to start going to the gym it might be easier to actually get going and keeping going there every week if you have a gym-partner.

However, there are potential downsides to bringing friends too. If you are at the party with your friend then you might not meet and get to know that many new people. If you are going to the gym with a partner it might lead to the two of you talking and focusing less on getting a great workout.

5. Educate yourself.

Your comfort zone might be protecting your from imaginary dangers. Maybe things aren’t as difficult or scary as you imagine? Do a bit of research. Getting some good information can dissipate quite a bit of your fear and nervousness.

Do a bit of Googling. Read books and blogs. Ask someone who has been there before. By reading/hearing about what others that have done the same thing you are about to do saw, heard, felt and did you can not only lessen negative feelings but also get some very valuable and practical tips.

6. Awash your mind with positive memories.

Realise it can be fun to get out of your comfort zone despite what your mind and feelings might be telling you before you get started. Think back to the previous times when you have broken out of your comfort zone. Focus on the positive memories, when you got out there, when you took a chance. And it wasn’t so bad, it was actually fun and exciting and something new to you.

A lot of times we automatically play back our negative experiences – or negative interpretations of events – in our minds before we are about to do something. And we forget about the positive memories and our previous, positive achievements. Avoid that trap. Let the good memories flow through your mind instead and let things become easier.

7. Use other methods to pump yourself up.

Besides remembering positive memories, there are a whole bunch of things you can do to pump up your emotional state temporarily. Here is a small list of such tips within in this list:

Use Music. Listen to uplifting and motivational music. Use Your Body. How you use your body affects how you feel. Move in a

confident way and you’ll soon feel more confident. Move in an excited way and you’ll soon feel more excited.

Use Your Imagination. Close your eyes. Visualize how great everything will unfold. How wonderful and excited you will feel. This is a whole lot more useful than seeing in your mind how everything will turn out badly.

Use Guided Meditation. I like Talking to Win and Self-Esteem Supercharger by Learning Strategies. They are useful for giving you a positive boost for a couple of days.

Use Your Breathing. Not exactly a way to pump yourself up but rather to calm yourself down quickly. Have a look at Here´s a Quick Way to Better Breathing.

You can find longer descriptions of most of these methods – and additional confidence-tips - in Top 24 Tips to Making Your Self Confidence Soar. For more self-motivation tips check out 25 Simple Ways to Motivate Yourself. And for help with anxiety and nervousness try Put a Stop to Your Anxiety with These 8 Simple Tips.

If you liked this article, please give it a thumb up or write a review in Stumbleupon . Thanks!

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After completing a workshop on personal productivity or time management, we usually find participants react to the instruction on goal-setting in one of three ways:

1. Some workshop attendees really don’t want their lives to change nor does a greater level of achievement appeal that much to them. Therefore, they do nothing as a result of the training and their number of sales remains the same as they were before attending the training session.

2. Other trainees get excited about the techniques for improving their lives and begin setting goals that get them fired up for short periods of time. They don’t place enough

importance on the procedures, however. Without the daily discipline of reinforcing the ideas and methods they have learned, they quickly fall back into a more comfortable routine and soon, like the first group, are doing nothing more to achieve their sales goals.

3. The third group of workshop participants open up their minds to the concepts taught and carefully set new sales goals. They then commit to follow through on them and systematically work through the comfort zone barrier to obtain their objectives. These are the participants who ultimately achieve much higher numbers of sales and improved closing ratios.

Whenever you try to change your attitudes or your habit patterns, you run smack into a personal comfort zone. These are the natural barriers or roadblocks of your mind. It’s the part in each of us that silently says, “I like things just the way they are—comfortable thanks!” Once you’ve settled down for the night in a big easy chair with your shoes off to watch television or read a book, it’s difficult to put your shoes back on, get dressed up to go out again.

Selling used to be a whole lot more comfortable. But the marketplace changed all the rules on us. Now you have to sell rather than take orders. You have to set goals and track your progress. You have to get out of that easy chair, put your shoes back on, turn off the television and get going all over again.

If you look closely at why change makes you uncomfortable, you can begin to overcome your natural resistance to it. When you have to change how you do things—learn new behaviors—it will take a lot of practice (spaced repetition) before you feel competent in the new activity. When you feel less confident about your actions, you have a high degree of discomfort—it’s only natural. It’s the fear of looking foolish.

Think about how employees felt when the company installed a new computer system, or when the government required another form to complicate reporting, or when you first learned about the internet or when PDA’s were first introduced. PDAs, the internet and computers still make, some people extremely uncomfortable, even fearful.

Change is a fact of life. How you react to it is a matter of personal choice—a matter of attitude. Unfortunately, fear of looking foolish is not the only comfort zone barrier you face when trying to achieve specific goals. Another obstacle occurs with well-meaning friends, co-workers and relatives. They’re the people who often, unintentionally, discourage you from trying to attain our goals. Motivational professionals call them “dream stealers.” They’re the ones who find the flaws in your character or in your plans. They point out to you all the reasons why something you want to try won’t succeed. The barrier they create is one of criticism or fear and it’s a tough one to break through. It’s a lot easier and more comfortable to go along with the crowd. When dealing with nay-sayers, you must remember that they don’t want you to become more successful than they are. The way to get through their barrier is to affirm to yourself that change is possible and that you will allow no one but yourself to control your personal success.

The fear of failing is yet another barrier. This barrier occurs when you think about what you don’t want to happen in the future or dwell on what may have happened in the past. To allow this barrier to creep into our thoughts is to misuse your imagination. Your attitude about failure should be that it is merely a stepping-stone to success. If you never fail, it means you have never taken any action.

Your comfort zone barriers—the fear of looking foolish, the fear of criticism, the fear of being successful and the fear of failure—are quite simply attitudes. They are the negative mindsets you allow yourself to have. You can become as successful as you allow yourself to be. So start today to break through your individual barriers. Set your goals and program your mind for success through positive affirmations and positive attitudes.

"What lies behind us and what lies in front of us, pales in significance when compared to what lies within us."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson –

To obtain dozens of ideas, proven methods, and field-tested systems to help you overcome your own Comfort Zone Barrier, check out my new book, Organizing For Sales Success at: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/organize.htm .

VIRDEN THORNTON is the founder and President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. an Ohio consulting firm specializing in sales and sales management training, personal coaching, advisory services and publishing. Clients have included Sears Optical, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Service Linen Supply, Bank One, Jefferson Wells International, and Wal-Mart to name a few. Virden is the author of the “best selling” Building & Closing the Sale, Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success and Close That Sale, a video/audio tape series published by Crisp Publications a division of Thompson Learning. He has also authored a client acclaimed Self-Directed Learning series of sales, coaching, telemarketing, and personal productivity manuals. To obtain a substantial discount on two of Virden's latest books, 101 Sales Myths or Organizing For Sales Success, go to: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/books1.htm

NOTE: You can contact Virden at: virden@TheSellingEdge.com or check out his detailed biography at: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/bio.htm

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Virden_Thornton

Many people ask themselves why their lives don’t get better. They go along, day in and day out, just waiting and hoping to become happier, more successful and more satisfied with their lives. But, the answer is simple: Their lives don’t get better because they don’t get better.

Have you ever thought about what your life would be like if you could turn back time by 10 years? If you could redo some of your actions or avoid saying some of the things you said, how

would your life be different? Or, what if you had forced yourself to do something you once didn’t have the heart to do? How would your life look today?

The truth is, all in all, everything would be the same as it is today! Naturally you would correct some of the actions you now regret, but you would still have to deal with unfavourable situations. Of course you wouldn’t make the same mistakes you made then, but you would make different ones. And then 10 years later – today – you would feel as satisfied or unsatisfied or as successful or unsuccessful as you are today.

Consider this formula: Who you are and how well do today is the result of your present personality. If you want to feel more satisfied in your private domain or if you want to be more successful in your current job, the best (and only) way to do it is by advancing your personality. However, this isn’t necessarily an easy feat. If you decide to take the next step, it will be challenging – but you will be greatly rewarded.

The comfort zone: Everything you know is your comfort zone. You can divide this zone into four parts: geographical, mental, activity-related, and personal.

Let’s say you are at home in your living room; this means you are within your geographical comfort zone. If you’re in a place where you have never been before, you are outside of your geographical comfort zone. If friends surround you, you are within your personal comfort zone, and if strangers surround you, you are outside of your personal comfort zone. If you do something you have been doing your whole life, like a card game you grew up with, this is within your activity-related comfort zone, and if you do something brand new, you are outside of your activity-related comfort zone. If you think about something you are familiar with, like job tasks you do on a daily basis, you are within your mental comfort zone, but if you think like you have never done before, you are outside of your mental comfort zone.

But now comes the critical question, so make sure to answer honestly: Where do you prefer to be? Within your comfort zone, or outside of it? Ninety-five percent of people feel more comfortable within their comfort zone, and you probably fall into that category; this is absolutely fine!

But why do most people feel better within their comfort zone? The explanation is simple, yet frightening: Humans are born with an innate, primary instinct that continues to control our lives, yet it is no longer necessary to our survival.

A very long time ago, humans were only able to survive as gregarious animals, and therefore, Mother Nature gave us the appropriate herd instinct: Never leave your comfort zone, because that’s your safe place. Danger impends when you leave your comfort zone.

This is why most people spend their entire lives within their comfort zones, desiring more of the same and occasionally wishing for better.  Because you already know everything within your comfort zone, unfortunately personality development is only possible if you step outside of it.

Now you know what needs to be done; how can you step outside your comfort zone? Let’s take another look at the four parts of the comfort zone: geographical, mental, activity-related, and personal. First, you should never leave all of the parts at the same time; at least one part should remain familiar to you. You either need to be familiar with the action, the people you are with, the content, or the place you are in. Staying familiar with one part of your comfort zone will provide you with support and security to develop yourself in the other areas.

Take small steps: It’s important to consider the size of the steps you take in this process. Some experts advise big steps, but unfortunately this has been proven counterproductive. Here’s

why: Imagine your comfort zone as point ‘A.’ Any time you move more than three feet off point ‘A,’ you encounter a padded wall that completely surrounds you. If you try to break out of the padded wall all at once, you will bounce back to where you started. After a couple more unpleasant and non-productive attempts, you will eventually give up.

Unfortunately, the “breaking out of your comfort zone” method is taught and practiced frequently. You get highly motivated and very enthusiastic, but after a short time the motivation turns into frustration and resignation – I can’t do anything about it, I have tried it but it just isn’t working out. Nobody pays attention to the padded wall.

The only way to be successful in this transition is to take small steps. It’s important for you to make the new activity, new place, new people, or new way of thinking your habit – these things will now belong to your comfort zone. Then, you will make the next small step out of your already-growing comfort zone. Development takes time.

Consistency: Once you have taken a small step outside a certain area of your comfort zone, it’s important you never go back into your old one. Stay consistent, no matter how unnatural you feel; you have to follow this rule until you know and feel comfortable with everything.

Start now: Here is an easy exercise to help start you on the road to success: From now on, try to smile anytime and every time. Smile when you answer the phone, when you pass people on the street, when you read your e-mails, when you’re exercising! Initially, you might feel a bit insecure. Your smile may seem cramped and fake, but you have stay out of your comfort zone. One day, your smile will become a habit, and you won’t even notice it anymore. As an added benefit, you will notice a lot of people smiling back!

Follow these steps and your personality will continue to grow and develop as your comfort zone does – your success and satisfaction will grow, as well.

Read other articles and learn more about Eric Adler.

We all have a negative voice in our heads who stops us from taking risks. I'd like to review a few risk taking techniques that I use regularly to get great results. Try 'em and see how you do. I think you'll be pleased with what you accomplish:

DON'T THINK TOO MUCH BEFORE TAKING A RISK. The easiest way to get into a cold swimming pool is to jump right in. The same can be said for taking risks. Hesitating will only psyche you out.

WHEN YOU JUMP, JUMP BIG. Don't hold back. Fully commit yourself.

IF YOU DON'T A-S-K, you won't G-E-T. Come right out and ask for what you want. People will appreciate you being straight with them.

EMBRACE FAILURE AND REJECTION: Think of failure as an opportunity to learn. If things don't work out, figure out why. Then make some changes and try again.

BE A JUDGE, NOT A SUSPECT. Don't worry about what others think. Instead, you should be the one who does thinking. (This doesn't mean be judgmental. It just means believing that your opinion and way of doing things is as good as anyone else's.)

FOCUS LESS ON YOUR IMAGE AND MORE ON WHAT YOU WANT. Do what you must to succeed without concern for your reputation or appearance.

FOCUS ON FACTS, NOT ON FEELINGS. Don't let insecurity lead to incorrect assumptions about yourself. Examine your situation and wait for tangible facts before determining whether or not there's a problem.

PRACTICE TAKING RISKS. It does get easier.

ASK YOURSELF WHAT YOU REALLY HAVE TO LOSE. Most of the time it's about ego and less about any real loss.

GO FIRST. Have the courage to something before waiting to see if others are willing.

TAKE RESPONSIBLE RISKS: Never risk your physical safety or the safety of others. Always pursue healthy goals.

Make these practices part of your lifestyle and I will guarantee that you will be a more powerful leader and more fulfilled human being.

Forget the idea that networking is a job-hunting tool. Networking is the job hunt. But networking is not just passing out your business card and e-mailing your friends' friend. Networking is making yourself buzz-worthy so people want to be connected with you.

This is not the old networking that celebrated extroverts and crushed introverts. Building buzz celebrates the diligent information broker and crushes the relentless self-promoter. Build buzz for yourself by processing information in new ways and connecting people and ideas in ways that are interesting and provide new experiences.

Here are four things to remember when you want to build buzz:

1. Be known for good work.This is the most powerful tool in your career. Even if you start with no reputation and no connections, it's not unrealistic to get known for doing outstanding work.

"If you're great, people will notice you," says Dana Zemack, founder of Zemack PR & Communications.

David Weekly is a programmer who has built such a strong reputation for having good ideas that popular blogs such as Slashdot, BoingBoing, and Lifehacker reliably post links to his new products.

"I want to build a reputation as someone who comes up with interesting things and tries to be useful," Weekly said. "I use my reputation as a launch platform for my ideas."

His current company is PBWiki, which offers a service that gives people a simple way to collaborate online, in a wiki, for example.When he announced the company he got 1,000 customers on the first day, just from being mentioned on those blogs.

2. Contribute to the community.For Weekly, building buzz is not a single project, but an ongoing commitment to giving quality work to a larger community. And this should be how you think about yourself, as well.

The days of just pushing plain old information out to an audience are ending. Stories, not raw facts, are what people can relate to. "A great way to connect with people is by way of stories," says Zemack. "When you build experiences or create a story around a something, then it becomes more engaging and personal."

You can do this many ways but maybe the easiest is to add your comments to blogs. This is a way to broker information in a useful way, sort of like inviting yourself to a party, but it's OK to do so, as long as you make relevant contributions.

Also, give away good information. There is so much information available that hoarding it will get you nowhere. People will just look elsewhere to get ideas. Instead, share as much as you can with the community, to build your reputation into what you'd like to be known for. "Information is not the main ingredient. It's knowing how to enact it," says BL Ochman, author of The What's Next Blog.

3. Shape your own destiny.How people see you online matters. For example, most young people would not date someone before Googling them, and we do this kind of electronic research routinely before buying products and services as well. Recruiters also use the Internet to identify job candidates rather than sift through piles of resumes. So you need to manage your online identity to make sure people see you as the person you want to be.

Peter Himler is author of The Flack and founder of Flatiron Communications in New York. His decades of experience in the public relations and communications field includes serving as spokesman for major companies, chairing organizations and giving lectures. He is all over Google, but had little control over what Google served up. By blogging, Himler shapes his online image –  his "digital footprint" — because his blog now comes up first when you Google his name.

You can also take control of what people see by removing the bad stuff. There are no guarantees, of course, but if you want to clean up your online identity, ReputationDefender has proprietary resources for both finding the dirt and cleaning it up.

4. Think in terms of experience and get off the sofa.The more types of meaningful connections you can make with an audience, the more effective the buzz will be. "The best way to generate buzz about what you do is to combine an offline and online experience," says Zemack.

Advertising industry veteran Steve Hall, editor of Adrants, rattles off many fun examples of effective buzz-generating tactics that do not include a computer. For example, Canon paid couples to carry around its new product and ask passersby to take their pictures. That person who took the picture inadvertently learned how to use the camera. And, if things went as planned, the unsuspecting photographer would also hear a few benefits of using the camera: "We just love the zoom lens, could you use that, please?"

This is an experience you could never have online. (Though today the ethics of this particular promotion seem flawed.)

Also, just like people go to blogs to learn something and have a fun engagement with a community, people like to do the same thing offline. Throwing a party is one of the oldest tools in the box for building buzz, and it still works.

Zemack has made a name for herself, and her communications firm, by throwing ice cream parties and chocolate-tasting   parties . The exotic flavors described by well-versed wait staff and perfectly complimentary hipster circles mingling over tasty cones allows people to learn something new, and to make new introductions — just the kinds of experiences Zemack wants a reputation for creating.