How to leave your comfort zone to transform your life

Humans are creatures of habits, resorting to the same routines until nudged, forced or awakened to the needed change. We are powerful enough to make great advances in science, build missiles, challenge norms, yet feeble enough to find comfort in doing the same things and meeting the same people.

Somehow, we crave comfort and the lack of uncertainty, fear and anxiety that comes with it. Hence, our comfort zone becomes our go-to pathway in life, causing us to stay in a loop of repeating behaviours and thoughts. However, our comfort zone also limits the world we explore and the opportunities we grasp while making us unable to enjoy spontaneity and transformative life changes. So, how can one effectively step away from their comfort zone?

Ways to move out of your comfort zone

Our comfort zone is the psychological state that keeps us feeling safe and anxiety-free from something different or challenging in life. While it keeps you away from fear and uncertainty, it also costs your personal and professional growth in life. It puts a full stop to what you are capable of achieving by pushing boundaries.

Determine your risk tolerance

Analyze your baseline of taking risks or making more significant decisions that allow for change to happen. Don’t take this step for granted, as taking too big a leap in the beginning might have an opposite impact than what you desire.

Take smaller steps

Take smaller steps that can be as small as starting a conversation with a colleague you have never spoken to or taking a different route back home. This will make way for an easier transition out of your comfort zone.

Shift your mindset

Gear your beliefs and mind to crave growth rather than stagnancy as it is the only way to progress in life truly. A growth mindset will enable you to move out of the comforts of what you know to further your knowledge and skills, as improvement requires one to explore.

Support of a community

Find yourself with people that have similar goals and can push you further rather than pulling you down. Find a mentor to guide you to the right path to have someone to share your successes and failures. Like-minded people will provide you with fresh perspectives and encouragement.

Accept failures as a part of life

Don’t let fear of failure hold you back from achieving excellence, as it is an inevitable and natural part of life. Even the greatest figures you admire have failed at some point but managed to move past it. Remember, every failure teaches you something that no success can, which can only happen when one steps out of their comfort zone.

To break the barriers of our comfort zone, having better control of our emotions is crucial. Anxiety, fear, uncertainty and lack of self-belief are the deterrents that keep you confined within the limits of what you find comfortable, and victory against these marks the first step in this journey of yours.