Cross Your Arms & Expand Your Comfort Zone!

13 June, 2007 - General Business, Motivation - 1 Comment

Expanding your comfort zone is something which is spoken about a lot by entrepreneurs and their mentors. Take this quote from the book “Millionaire Upgrade: Lessons in Success from those who Travel at the Sharp End“, for example.

“The ‘E’ is to Extend your comfort zone, and that’s probably the reason Olivia’s husband never quit his job to become a full-time artist. He was afraid to get out of where he felt safe.” “But surely” Tom countered, “most of us operate in our comfort zone? Is that so wrong?” “No, not necessarily” agreed Michael, “that is if you want to be ‘most of us’, but I thought you wanted something better?”

A Practical Experiment

I want you to fully understand the concept of expanding your comfort zone. Here is a simple yet powerful practical experiment. Try it for yourself.

  • Cross your arms in front of your chest
  • Notice which arm is on top. Most of us have a dominant side and you will always cross your arms the same way
  • Now reverse that so the other arm is on top
  • Now just sit that way for a few minutes

“Weird! It is just not natural. I don’t feel comfortable.”
“No, it isn’t natural and that’s exactly the point. Michael agreed. “It’s a small thing, but it has moved you out of your comfort zone.”

Expanding your comfort zone doesn’t have to be about taking more risks. Let me give you an example from my own life of how it helped my business grow.

Expanding your comfort zone is all about facing your fears and limiting beliefs. That is something I know all about, been a young person in the big wide world of business.

Operating a business and been contained within the millionaire mind set at the tender age of just 17 (as I was when I first started my business) certainly comes with its disadvantages. Don’t get me wrong, it comes with its many advantages too, such as the print and radio media publicity that I have received. However, it is the disadvantages that can seriously get in my way if I don’t take action.

During the early stages of this last year I spent a lot of my time attending free business courses put on by my local BusinessLink. The courses ranged from selling techniques and marketing tips to taxation advice. The courses were usually attended by 20-30 people. As you can imagine, the moment they saw me I was stereotyped as the weak link because of my age.

With that stereotype in mind, I set out to face my fear of public speaking. Put simply, I kicked some sorry ass during my first course and every subsequent course. I wouldn’t and couldn’t stop speaking! I don’t know where it came from, but all of a sudden I was giving my opinion on marketing techniques, sharing my experiences of certain tips and tricks and generally putting one big bullet hole through the stereotype that everybody in that room had of me. The result? I had a quarter of the attendees queuing up for my business card at the end of the course. Why that result? Because I stepped outside my comfort zone for the first time in years.

I did that time and time again at courses, and each time I had five or six people queuing up to chat with me at the end.

The Kicker!

The fact is, I am not a marketing guru. I am not a sales guru. I don’t look like Brad Pitt and they sure as hell weren’t there to smell my aftershave. No, they were there because I was confident, calm, collected, (maybe a little smooth) and I impressed them because I stepped outside my comfort zone. Apart from a select one or two, everybody else in the room had the same fear as I had before I went in. They were scared to talk in front of a group in fear of been rejected. It just so happened that I had the balls to open my voice and they respected that because, despite them wanting to do the same, they just couldn’t bring themselves to do it.

Do you step outside your comfort zone? How often do you do so? Share your experiences.

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Posted on 13 June, 2007 by Jamie Harrop
Filed Under General Business, Motivation |

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1 Comment»

Pingback by Expand Your Comfort Zone with an OS!M : Jamie Harrop | Young Entrepreneur | Video Blog
2007-07-09 22:02:06

[...] a big fan of expanding your comfort zone, and one way to do that is to have an OS!M. What’s an OS!M? Watch this video and find out. [...]

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