3 Tips for Leaving Your Comfort Zone Regularly

A few weeks ago I chatted with fitness icon Tony Little on Twitter.

Yep….the “Technique! Technique!” and “You can do it!” guy.

He may have been the most energetic fitness guru ever. Plus he has inspired tens of millions of people worldwide to be fit. He is iconic.

Tony and I exchanged tweets, and after chatting about success, he tweeted back to me…”Yeah, but it is SO hard sometimes.”

There you go. One of the greatest icons in fitness, ever, who has inspired 45,000,000 people to be fit, according to his site, and this incredibly successful guy professes he still finds it difficult to leave his comfort zone, sometimes.

Leaving your comfort zone helps you grow and succeed. Every dream manifests well outside of your comfort zone. No one succeeds unless they make freeing, fun, and sometimes highly uncomfortable choices consistently.

But like Tony said, sometimes it really is SO hard to grow and succeed by exiting your comfort zone.

Follow these 3 tips to see greater success by learning to leave your comfort zone.

1: See What You Are Getting Not What You Are Appearing to Lose

I had a blast today watching my 3-year-old niece.

But after 9 hours of continual fun, laughs and yes, endless engagement, I feel a bit exhausted. Factor in how I wrote 4 blog posts while caring for an endlessly curious, precocious kid, and I feel like I got hit by a truck.

At 9 PM, a part of me feels like I lost the opportunity to watch my beloved Netflix tonight for some R and R, but I know that in reality, I am gaining a chance to inspire you, to help Don with a guest post and to garner greater exposure by writing this guest post.

“Sacrifice is releasing something of a lower nature to make room for something of a higher nature.” ~ Leland Val Van De Wall

You may feel super uncomfortable right now because you appear to be losing something but what you gain through growth, service, and fulfillment means infinitely more to you and to people whose lives you touch.

Focus on your goals, hopes, and dreams to leave your comfort zone more regularly.

2: Know How Every Successful Human Feels Uncomfortable Sometimes

I mentioned Tony Robbins as a prime example of an iconic person who struggles to leave his comfort zone sometimes.

I once read how the Dalai Lama shared how he felt genuinely sad after his brother’s passing. Imagine an enlightened being who freely admits he felt upset. Of course, he would feel upset; he’s human. This proves he feels uncomfortable sometimes. But His Holiness also made a joke about how if you think you’re too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito in the room. I found this funny and also indicative that an enlightened being gets annoyed, agitated, and disturbed by a buzzing skeeter. He feels uncomfortable, like any human, when a mosquito buzzes by his ears in darkness.

If the Dalai Lama gets uncomfortable sometimes, so will you. The man began his spiritual training at 3 years old and meditates 8 hours every day. You better believe you will leave your comfort zone, again and again, to grow and progress in life.

3: Understand the Illusory Nature of Fear

A Course in Miracles teaches how only love is real. This teaching also stresses how fear is an illusion. Fear is not really there.

The next time you leave your comfort zone and feel some mild, moderate or deep fear, repeat the mantra to self, “Fear is an illusion. Only love is real.”

I experienced a few death-defying situations during my 8 years of circling the globe. I almost died from dehydration after suffering through giardia in India, I faced down a spitting cobra in Bali, and I sat in a cage with three, 400-pound tigers in Thailand. Each experience made me exquisitely intimate with my deepest terrors, my most horrifying fears. I felt the profound grief of life leaving my body in India, but in the same breath, I observed the illusion that a soul in a human body can actually die.  After the initial fear of being attacked and eaten by the massive tigers subsided, I felt the illusion vanish, being replaced with the idea that if I had no fear of the cats, and just love for the cats, that it would be impossible for them to harm me.

Every animal we fear just mirrors our fear back to us. No wild animal can harm you if you have zero fear of the wild animal. Again; this shows fear is an illusion, and only love is real. Every being simply reflects your predominant fear or love, back to you, being a mirror.

Note; do not try this at home. Minus a few enlightened humans who have conquered fear, I do not suggest facing down a spitting cobra. Simply know that I have read many encounters between fear-less holy men and allegedly deadly wild animals, and the creatures never bothered a fearless, poised, calm, serene, loving, enlightened being.

Do NOT try facing down a cobra at home Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

Fear is not real. Fear is something the mind makes up to pull you away from who you really are.

Knowing the illusory nature of fear makes it easier to leave your comfort zone consistently.

Leaving Your Comfort Zone Is 100% Worth It Every Time.

Always remember why you leave your comfort zone.

Punishment is not the end game. Being terrified is not the goal. Remember why you leave your comfort zone. Following your dreams, having fun, helping people, and being a bright light for humanity is 100% worth the discomfort.