In many circles that support business and personal development, the comfort zone is a frequent topic of discussion. People are often encouraged to go outside of their comfort zone. Familiar examples of this include picking up the phone to make a call to a prospect, and declaring bold goals for one’s lifestyle and income. On the other side of the coin, people often state what they are willing and not willing to do based on their comfort. And in response to this, the individual who has set these limits according to her comfort level is often treated as a handicapped person. “Well, if you are uncomfortable, of course you can’t do it.” What is so comfortable about remaining comfortable? Oftentimes that so-called comfort is attached to even harsher realities that are decidedly uncomfortable. The state of comfort may really be a state of familiarity. Confusing the two is like putting the breaks on when it comes to grabbing hold of opportunities that can improve someone’s life. Perhaps “comfort” can be re-identified as merely what someone is used to.
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True story: there is a man who makes a 90 minute commute twice a day. This leaves him with a scant 10 minutes with his young daughter before it is her bedtime. She literally stays awake just to say good night to her dad. Weekends allow not much more than recovering from the inevitable exhaustion after a long work week. This man accepts this reality because the job market is tight. The rationale is that even though this nightmarish schedule produces a whopping $50,000 per year and there is hardly a moment of quality time with the family and money is always tight… well, at least he has a job.
Let’s call this guy Sam. Sam is very unhappy with his situation. Who wouldn’t be? Sam is living with dire limitations in the arenas of time and money, two precious commodities that support quality of life for Sam and his family. When Sam is presented with the option of working from home, having a real shot at changing his situation, all his defenses go up. Of course, he has no time, no money and doing something different would be (you guessed it…) outside of his comfort zone.
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Perhaps you have heard the story of the boy on the porch with his dog and his grandpa. The boy sees the dog whimpering and asks his grandpa why the dog is making those noises. The grandpa replies that the dog is lying on a board with nails sticking out of it. The little boy thinks for a moment, and then asks his grandpa why the dog does not get off the board? His grandpa replies, “It hurts enough to make him whine, but not enough to make him get up and move away.”
If you are a business builder in this wonderful industry of network marketing, perhaps along the way, someone was bold enough to invite you to see beyond what you were used to. Perhaps this meant introducing you to something grand: possibilities that were attainable to those who could think beyond what was familiar. Comfort zones are our coffins. God forbid we should end up where we are comfortable. All the good stuff is slightly beyond our reach. The growth that comes from stepping into what is unfamiliar opens the door to getting what seemed unattainable. For those of us who love what we do – and we network marketers are an impassioned bunch – regarding the proverbial comfort zone, our attitude is “Get me outta here!” We have learned to stare down temporary inconveniences and discomfort along the way to living life as we choose. Unlike the dog on the porch, we don’t wait until things are excruciating to implement change.
Rosie Spiegel, Founder Manifesting Vision International
http://www.manifestingvision.com
