A lot of things stand between a person and their own success. Generally, what you want to be successful in changes what challenges you have to go through. If success for you means being the best possible friend to everyone you know, things are going to look different than if you’re trying to become super famous. No matter what “success” means for you, there’s one hurdle you have to go through.
Everyone has to go through this before they can find success, and (unfortunately) it’s the most difficult hurdle of them all! You have to get out of your comfort zone. If you’re comfortable, you’re not pushing yourself. You’re not improving.
In lieu of living other people’s lives, I’ll use myself as an example. My day job is in marketing. We’ve all seen countless marketing horror stories and overly risqué campaigns. I don’t want to be associated with that, so I tend to keep it safe. I tend to stay where I’m comfortable. But our most successful endeavors come when I push the envelope. Where I have to learn something new before I can act, or where our ad phrasing teases the line between phenomenal and scandalous. Here’s another example.
I would be far more comfortable writing in this journal, and then only posting my favorite pieces or when I finally finish writing a book. But being comfortable won’t help me grow. I have to share my stuff with the world so they’ll help me improve and so people can actually know who the heck I am.
No actor got famous by only performing in front of a mirror. They had to anxiously walk out on stage in front of that empty auditorium and perform for a few people who controlled their future. There’s no getting comfortable before you do that for the first time. You just have to do it, and try your best.
No businessman or entrepreneur found success by only doing what they already knew. They took risks, stuck their necks out there, lived precariously, and eventually made something of their ideas. That’s not a comfortable journey.
Best friends and spouses don’t have successful relationships only when things are going well. In sickness and in health, right? They show up in the uncomfortable situations, too.
Getting out of your comfort zone is not easy! It’s the most difficult hurdle between and success! But if you want to find success, to achieve the greatness we both know you’re capable of, you have to stick your neck out there. You have to get out of your comfort zone.
