Do you want to boost your personal growth? If you do, then what you must do is this: expand your comfort zone.
The fact is, we all have a narrow world where we feel comfortable. Life is easy there. You can go through your day almost on autopilot. That, however, is not the way to grow.
What you should do instead is expand your comfort zone. Why? Because then you can handle more situations. You will be able to handle more of what life throws at you. Your ability to cope will increase.
How do you expand your comfort zone?
You expand your comfort zone by doing things that still give you discomfort. These are things that you still feel anxious doing. If it doesn’t give you discomfort, then it’s already within your comfort zone.
Of course, we naturally avoid such a thing. However, you need to embrace it if you want to grow.
My suggestion is to make a list of things that you know will make you a better person, but you still feel anxious doing. Then do them one by one.
Here are some examples:
- Joining a new social club.
This requires you to meet new people, people you may not be comfortable with at first. I did this by joining Toastmasters a few months ago. I didn’t know a single person there, so it was uncomfortable for me. But it made me grow as a person. - Learning a new skill.
Do you want to learn a new musical instrument? Or perhaps it’s a new technical skill like coding? Whatever it is, learning a new skill will expand your comfort zone. - Taking your skills to the next level.
For skills that you already have, consider taking them to the next level. This requires you to take a difficult challenge. I did this when I wrote my first e-book. - Staying at a new place.
Living in your home town is comfortable, so you might consider living somewhere else for some time. For example, you might want to live in another country for a few weeks. It will expand your comfort zone by exposing you to a different culture.
These are just some ideas. I’m sure there are many other ways to expand your comfort zone.
The important thing is to make yourself comfortable being uncomfortable. It should be normal for you to be outside of your comfort zone. It should be normal for you to do something that still gives you discomfort. Then, you will grow a lot as a person.
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Photo by Leland Francisco
