Become a Better Leader, Entrepreneur, Parent, Spouse, and Human By Learning How to Operate Outside Your Comfort Zone

Become a better and happier human by becoming more comfortable!!

That’s The World’s greatest sales pitch. The World sells comfort to us because we buy it. It certainly works on me because, let’s face it — I love being comfortable.  

But I know better, and so do you.  

I know that to grow, get better, and ultimately be more satisfied with my life, I have to push the boundary of my comfort zone. I know this because I’ve experienced it. I can see how my comfort zone has shaped my journey, both for the good and bad.  I blame my comfort zone for both my highest successes and lowest failures.

You know this as well because your comfort zone has shaped your journey. You can see the signposts along the path where you excelled because you were growing outside of your comfort zone — you got the job, got the girl, got the client, got the win. You can also see those times where you shrunk and failed.  

And as we get older, our comfort zone gains appeal because it’s more accessible and larger. We’ve spent time, money, and energy throughout our life building our comfort zone. This accessibility that we’ve created is why it’s even more important to practice getting out of it.  

No matter your age, both opportunities and crises are yet to come. You can count on it. If you’re not regularly practicing outside of your comfort zone, how will you handle them?

What is the Comfort Zone?

The phrase ‘comfort zone’ was coined by management thinker Judith Bardwick in her 1991 work Danger in the Comfort Zone:

“The comfort zone is a behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk.”

Judith Bardwick

Your comfort zone is a personal space, and it weaves throughout your entire personal and professional life. Like an amoeba, you change its shape by pushing its boundaries. The less you push, the more it atrophies and shrinks. You know when you’ve reached its boundary because you feel that twinge of resistance and heightened anxiety. Sometimes it’s slight, and sometimes it’s a big red flashing light.    

The less you practice, the easier it is to turn away from that feeling — to shrink. The more you practice, the easier it becomes to embrace it and grow.

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How to Practice Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

“Do one thing every day that scares you”

Eleanor Roosevelt

The great news is that it’s easy to practice getting out of your comfort zone with low-stakes and low-risk activities. Regularly practicing with low-stakes exercises gets you ready for when the stakes are high.  

This is a list of both physical and emotional low-stakes activities.

The object isn’t to complete the list because your comfort zone is yours. Some of these things will be squarely inside your current comfort zone. Pick the things that are uncomfortable to you. 

They are all designed to make you feel that slight twinge that makes your heart beat a bit faster and makes you want to walk in the other direction. 

Think of magnets. When turned in one direction, they repel each other rather than attract. That’s the feeling for which you’re going. If it feels repellent, go towards it rather than away from it.

Each of these exercises is low-stakes with no actual risk other than to your ego, and you should be doing them every day. 

** To get this list as a FREE Downloadable Checklist click here **

Getting Started Exercises

Easy “dip your toe in the water” exercises. You have to start somewhere, and the best place to start is with low or no commitment exercises like these. They will force you into a very mild physical or emotional state of discomfort. Some are solo acts, while others will get people to notice you.  

1. Take a cold shower
2. Skip a meal
3. Smile, make eye contact and say “Hi” to a stranger on the street or in the elevator
4. Overdress or underdress for an event
5. Grow a beard or mustache or shave the one you have
6. Change your hairstyle
7. Color your hair differently than normal
8. Let your natural hair color grow out
9. Ask for directions (instead of using the GPS)
10. Take a different route or the long way
11. Comment on a social media post
12. Post something original (i.e., not shared or reposted) on social media
13. Stand at the edge on top of something tall (building, cliff, bridge, etc.)
14. Park on the other side of the parking lot.
15. Take the stairs.
16. Ride your bike or walk to the store
17. Wear a cowboy hat (unless you’re in Texas)
18. Cook for someone else
19. Garden without gloves on
20. Hang from a bar for one minute
21. Sit in silence for five minutes
22. Sit in the middle of the row
23. Skip the news, weather, and financial reports for a day
24. Order something that you have never tried from the menu 
25. Turn your video on for the Zoom meeting
26. Wear your glasses in public
27. Take public transportation
28. Take a different class at the gym
29. Wake up at 5am
30. Pay for the person behind you in line (coffee, breakfast, etc.)
31. Volunteer as the audience participant
32. Sit on the floor
33. Sit in a different spot at the dinner table
34. Sit in the front row

Moving Forward Exercises

Now you’re getting serious. These exercises ratchet up the discomfort level or place a brighter spotlight on you, and many require a commitment. The commitment may be financial, or time, or to other people.     

35. Buy the bike or running shoes, or get the gym membership.
36. Start a conversation with the person next to you on the airplane, or train, or bus.
37. Compliment a stranger
38. Write and publish an article that has your thoughts about a particular subject. Take a side, defend a position, tell a personal story, etc.
39. Publish a live video on social media about your thoughts on a particular subject 
40. Attend a local networking group meeting
41. Attend a network marketing meeting
42. Attend a meetup event
43. Take an art class
44. Take a cooking class
45. Join a book club
46. Send an email to a former coworker
47. Send an email to a former boss
48. Send an email to a friend you haven’t spoken to in over a year
49. Send an email to a virtual mentor
50. Play devil’s advocate in a discussion or meeting
51. Serve at a soup kitchen 
52. Exercise outside in the cold and/or rain
53. Do a polar bear plunge
54. Read a personal development book
55. Offer and help a stranger carry the groceries to the car
56. Keep a journal
57. Go out to a meal by yourself (“Table for one, please”)
58. Run or walk over a tall bridge
59. Do a week of intermittent fasting
60. Travel by a different means (train, plane, bus, etc)
61. Attend a worship service of a different faith
62. Walk up to the girl or guy and ask her/him on a date
63. Turn off the news for a week
64. Delete Facebook/Instagram/Twitter for a week.  
65. Give up coffee for a week
66. Leave your phone at home
67. Plan and host a dinner party for which you make all of the food
68. Jump into the pool, pond, or lake with your street clothes on

Force You To Grow Exercises

Now you’re all in. This is where you grow. These exercises strike directly at personal fear and discomfort, perspective, skill development, and commitment. Some might even cause you to question your core beliefs.  

69. Sign up and pay for the powerlifting meet, triathlon, 5k, marathon, Spartan Race, etc.
70. Find a speaking engagement (or join toastmasters)
71. Publish live or YouTube videos for 30 consecutive days
72. Publish articles for 30 consecutive days
73. Get on stage at an open mic or storytelling event.
74. Say “yes” to a network marketing opportunity
75. Find a mentoring client (It doesn’t need to be a paying client)
76. Fast for a day
77. Sign up and pay for a weekly art class
78. Sign up and pay for a weekly cooking class
79. Audition for community theater
80. Send emails to virtual mentors or heros every day for 30 days
81. Coach a sport for kids (not your own)
82. Go on a week-long volunteer mission trip
83. Go on a week-long silent retreat
84. Travel to a country that speaks a different language
85. Bungee jump or skydive
86. Try being an Uber driver, Door Dash deliverer, or Instacart shopper
87. Take on a home improvement project for which you will do 100% of the work
88. Do 100 push-ups (or pull-ups, or air squats, or sit-ups, etc.) every day for 30 days
89. Pick a lifestyle diet/plan and stick to it for a month
90. Interview for a new job (without needing a new job)
91. Wake up at 5am for a month
92. Read the essential or central religious text from a different faith (i.e., the Qur’an, Bible, Book of Mormon, Vedas, Tibetan Book of the Dead, etc.)
93. Take a 15-minute ice bath
94. Volunteer to lead a community event
95. “Adopt” someone at the skilled nursing facility and visit them regularly
96. Schedule and pay for the bucket list adventure
97. Turn off your smartphone for an entire week
98. Request a meeting/lunch/call with someone with whom you are feuding
99. Build your own website
100. Write a personal memoir book
101. Fill an entire room in your house with your own artwork
102. Give away or otherwise get rid of everything in your attic or basement storage

Start practicing today because you know that both opportunities and crises are coming. When you’ve practiced outside your comfort zone, you’ll be ready.

** To get this list as a FREE Downloadable Checklist click here **