| |
Tip
of the Month: October 2006
Comfort Zone or Uncomfortable Zone – It’s
our choice every day.
Dear Friends,
So much has been said and written about the “Comfort Zone” that
I think we just gloss over it because we’re so familiar with the term.
We all know what it means. So this is my goal over the next few hundred words:
To inspire you to leave your Comfort Zone behind and fight to get to your next
level.
First of all, we tend to relate Comfort Zone to salespeople. Trust me when I
tell you that the “Zone” knows no industry, no career, no title,
no race, no religion, and has absolutely no biases. All those willing to be comfortable
will be accepted. It is universal and is prevalent in sales, marketing, accounting,
finance, legal, human resources, Information Technologies, and Administration.
President, Senior Manager, Middle Manager, staff level or Independent Contractor
can qualify with little barriers to entrance.
I define the Comfort Zone with this equation:
Personal Motivation + Focused Attention = Your Comfort Zone
The more we have of each, the less likely we are to be stuck. Make sense? Highly
motivated and focused individuals tend to go to the UNCOMFORTABLE places. That’s
how they constantly improve.
So consider getting into the UNCOMFORTABLE ZONE by following these steps:
1. Make a list of what it takes to get to the next level in your career. Meet
with the best and find out what they are doing that makes them the best. Be thorough.
One thing I’ve learned about successful people is that most of them are
willing to share what they know. If you are the best, find someone better than
you. If there’s nobody better than you then I suggest you’re not
looking hard enough. Or, congratulations. Or, you have some ego issues – better
left for another time.
2. Match your strengths and weaknesses against the list you’ve just made.
What will it take to get you to the next level and what do you hate or avoid
doing?
3. Focus your attention on working on those things that you’ve deemed to
be your weaknesses. Get UNCOMFORTABLE working on them until you are so good that
you’re comfortable. Then get UNCOMFORTABLE again by repeating the above
steps to continue breaking through to new levels.
The best live in the UNCOMFORTABLE ZONE, always working on their game. If we
want, we can all choose to be at a crossroad in our career. Down one road is
the smooth, paved, well lit, often traveled road whose destination is as well
known as the road from your home to your local grocery store. It represents our
comfort zone. Down the other road is a rough, unpaved, dimly lit, sometimes frightening,
windy road that we are certain leads to more personal enrichment on many levels
than we’ve ever experienced before. But, it is a difficult journey. Do
you believe me? Which road do you choose? I hope you dare yourself to break through
to the next level. All the best to all of you.
|
|
| |
|
|
