In our Masterclass From Dreamer to Doer/ Fra Drøm til Virkelighed, we often encourage our students to step out of their comfort zone, which made us think that for some that might not be so easy.
So here are 3 tricks to help you step out of that comforting comfort zone.
Trick one
When I (Eva) have to leave my comfort zone and jump into something scary like a new business adventure or some sort of activity that I haven’t tried before, I always ask myself: Can I die from it?
Usually, the answer is: No.
Surely it’ll make me nervous, get my adrenalin pumping, make me doubt myself, and maybe even doubt my sanity, but it’ll not kill me. And what is it they say: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger (and may I add: Wiser, prouder, richer, bigger, and more self-aware)
Leaving your comfort zone doesn’t just apply to things you do when you travel. You should do it once in a while in your “normal” life too, to keep on evolving and jumpstart your whole system with an adrenalin rush. It’s actually good for you. We do a lot of leaving our comfort zone while traveling, but let me tell you a story that might be easier for you to relate to.
Hosting a workshop
My daughter has been working with teens for years and once in a while, they meet up for camps with hundreds of other teens for a weekend of fun and education.
On a Wednesday my daughter called me up with desperation in her voice begging me to host a workshop because the one they hired had called in sick. The workshop would take place on Friday!
I had never done a workshop before, so I had no idea about the structure and content of one. Sure I had held a series of lectures on Marihuana abuse (my dark past), but never a workshop.
But I said yes, dived into reading about the elements of a workshop, made cue cards, and practiced for two days. Several times in those two days I doubted my sanity. After all, I had to entertain a bunch of teens for hours with no former knowledge about any of it!
Adrenalin kick
When the day came I was so nervous that I heard buzzing in my ears due to adrenalin and I couldn’t eat, but I went in there, did the workshop, kept the teens alert and engaged, and after a few hours it was over and I felt victorious! I did it! I left my comfort zone at a time where I could easily have said: “Sorry I can’t help, I know nothing about workshops and the preparation time is way too short”, but I didn’t and I proved to myself that I was capable of hosting a workshop.
As an extra bonus, my workshop was judged the best education by the teens in a questionnaire at the end of the weekend. It was crazy, but I didn’t die (It could have been a total failure, but I still wouldn’t have died).
Trick two
We’re always super conscious about what other people will think if we leave our comfort zone and do something completely new. Will they judge us? Laugh? Roll their eyes? Wait for us to fail?
I always think: Do these people matter enough to me, to have so much power over my life, that I might hold back on something fantastic? Again most of the time the answer is: No.
Who cares if a former classmate on Facebook or someone at work have an opinion on what you’re about to do? Most of the time when people behave like that it’s something inside themselves that shine through. An insecurity or something that’s missing in their life. Don’t let that bring you down.
Instead, you should ask yourself if your loved ones can get hurt or die from your actions? You probably shouldn’t go public with a sensible story or become a stripper if it would hurt your loved ones. Not saying that your loved ones should always stop you, but you should at least give it some thought. Maybe even talk to them first.
You could be surprised
One of our biggest concerns before we began traveling was our kids. We were about to leave them. Abandon them! We had to talk to them and hear what they had to say. And we were in for a surprise.
Somehow they were prepared that this would have happened sooner or later because we never seemed really satisfied with especially the weather in Denmark. Somehow they knew that one day we’d go traveling full-time or move to a warmer climate.
Of course, they’d miss us, but they were prepared to keep in contact via phone and chat and they were actually looking forward to visiting us in different countries. It was only us that had been worrying about leaving our (or their?) comfort zone for no reason.
So never mind about other than your loved ones when it comes to leaving your comfort zone and even then, don’t let them hold you back if you feel it’s the right thing you’re about to do.
Trick three
Step out of your comfort zone somewhere else… And what do I mean about that?
Let’s say that you’ve always wanted to wear hats, but you know the people around you would question your choice if you began and that’s holding you back. Then you should begin to wear hats where no one you know is.
On vacations, at the mall in another city, when you go on business trips, and even in your own home. That way you’ll get comfortable with wearing hats and you can eventually start wearing them around those you didn’t dare to before. When they ask you about your hat, you can honestly say that you’ve been wearing hats for a long time, and that way it’s them who has been missing out and not you doing something new.
Often leaving your comfort zone is uncomfortable because you’re afraid of what other people will think about you. Should you really care? Imagine how many people around you each day have done something new for the first time that exact day. Something you either don’t know or notice.
It could be signing up for Riverdance lessons, getting the first same-sex kiss, deciding to leave their spouse after years of unhappiness, planning a year-long trip on a boat with a bunch of strangers, wearing a bold colored lipstick, or something completely different. They feel just as uncomfortable as you do when you leave your comfort zone.
Don't overdo it
Don’t wear out the adrenaline rush by doing something new every day though!
Be sure not to get too addicted to the rush and thereby not be able to feel the adrenalin rush anymore (It can happen!). In my opinion, that rush is one of the most frighteningly awesome feelings in the world. A deep Neanderthal instinct that makes you feel alert and alive (we all want to feel alive, right?). As I said we’ve tried it several times while we’ve been traveling and one of them was when we went scuba diving for the first time.
We’d been wanting to do it for so long and when the day finally arrived we were both thrilled and nervous. Could we remember all the things the instructor had told us? Would it be dark down there? Could we meet a shark? What if the oxygen tank failed? A ton of things could go wrong in our imagination. But nothing did and we had a fantastic dive. Something we would never have experienced if we had stayed in our comfort zone and kept on snorkeling in shallow waters.
Hopefully, this has helped you to leave your comfort zone a bit more often and maybe even begin reaching for your biggest dreams.
If one of your dreams is to follow in our footsteps and become a full-time traveler, we can’t encourage you enough to check out our Masterclass.
In 14 proven lessons we will guide you through the whole process leading up to the day that you are a full-time traveler. Not just any traveler, but the one you want to be, because we right from the beginning pinpoint your wishes and work from there.
The Masterclass is in both an English and a Danish version
