Your comfort zone is just what it suggests – comfortable for you – but it could keep you walled-in and unable or unwilling to leave that zone and face the obstacles that are keeping you from achieving your ultimate success.
Maybe you can do your job without even thinking. It’s so familiar to you that you’re blinded and may bump into obstacles without even knowing what they are or how to get around them.
You can choose from a couple of choices – either take steps to break through your comfort zone and learn and try new things - or let yourself fall backwards because there no challenges and apathy is comfortingly familiar to you.
There are ways you can assert yourself and even enjoy it so that you can break out of your comfort zone and pursue your suppressed hopes and ambitions. One assertiveness technique you may want to try is to develop new skills, learn something new or get yourself in a new routine of doing things.
Another assertiveness technique to try is doing a task for favor for someone that no one asked you to do or volunteer when someone asks for help. Become a mentor to someone and teach them what you know.
You may see what you do in a whole new light when you expose it to a novice. Welcome change in your life. If something isn’t working and you’re bored or unfulfilled, change it.
You don’t have to make drastic changes such as moving to an island, but take small assertive steps to pursue opportunities you may enjoy. Of course, it’s risky to step out of the safety and familiarity of your comfort zone.
If you’re not a risk-taker, you may have fears that make you resist challenges or new opportunities. In that case, take the steps gradually and see if you fit into the path you’re thinking of choosing.
For example, an online course that you participate in part time rather than quitting your job and heading to the unknown on a whim might backfire and make you even more fearful to be assertive.
You don’t have to quit your job or move to another country to try new things. Thanks to online opportunities, you can gradually feel your way through a new idea or pursue a new career you might be interested in.
Even if you decide not to pursue that path, the very act will give you a sense of accomplishment and help your self-confidence soar. It’s a special and valuable reward for the time and effort you put into the journey.
Getting out of your comfort zone might make you feel lost at first - like Dorothy in the Land of Oz - but eventually, you’ll see and take advantage of all the magic it offers. You’re bound to awaken passions and develop self-esteem that you never knew you had.
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