“If you want to accomplish something you have never accomplished before you must start doing things you have never done before.” Those words hit me hard a few years ago. The truth is:

Your Comfort Zone is Also Your Mediocrity Zone

If you want to be average – if you want to be the same person in five years that you are today, then stay in your comfort zone. That was what I was doing. I never set out to be mediocre, but I was heading towards it at the end of my corporate career.

Comfort Zones Create Mediocrity

I had been very successful and become very comfortable in my role in a large Fortune 50 corporation. I was stuck. I was stuck in my comfort zone and sliding toward mediocrity.

Mediocrity Is Easy

“If you keep doing what you have always done, you will keep getting what you already got!” While grammatically clumsy, this quote sums up where I was, and where many people are.

The easy thing to do is to keep on the path we have been on, and then wonder why our view never changes. The current path is comfortable and predictable. The current path is safe and easy.

If that’s where someone is and he/she is totally satisfied with the results, I say, “God bless and God’s speed!” But if that’s where someone is and he/she is dissatisfied, then it is time to make some decisions.

1.  Decide To Do Something Hard

Do I keep in my comfort zone or do I do something hard? That was the question in front of me. It is the question in front of many of us.

Do I choose my comfort or my growth?

I knew if I chose to stay on the comfortable and easy path, I had to quit complaining about the results my choice was producing. It would be my choice to stagnate in my comfort zone or to grow outside of it. Therefore, I had no right to complain.

I made the decision to do something hard, and I have grown more since then than I ever imagined. I am doing things I never thought I’d be doing.

I’m a keynote speaker heading to China for a speaking tour there, a blogger of over 400 articles, and now a published author trying to get the word out on Becoming a Leader of Character!

How am I going to do it? I am working on that…. I am way out of my comfort zone and would never go back to my old way of operating.

2.  Decide to Shut Out the Naysayers

There were people who questioned my decision. They meant well. I listened to their counsel. But in the end, I realized most of the naysayers were operating in their comfort zones as well.

Some of them were happy where they were and not complaining. Some were dissatisfied but too entrenched in their comfort zones to make a change themselves.

When I began to ask the people who had chosen a new path, their feedback was overwhelming:

“I have no regrets and I never looked back!”

Our comfort zones are like the gravitational pull of a planet. The larger the planet  the stronger the pull.

In the same way, if I continue to surround myself with people who value their comfort over their growth, the pull to remain comfortable will be strong.

To break away from our comfort zones, we need to shut out the naysayers and develop our new course to follow.

3.  Decide on a Destination

If you don’t have a destination, any path will take you there.

For some people this is a personal destination: “What was I designed to do?”

For others this is a professional destination: “What is our team’s ultimate measure of success?”

We all should decide on what our destination is before we should change the path we are on. In a previous blog, I discussed the process I went through and now recommend to individuals and companies I work with.

To read more about this process, click on the following title:

Vision: Am I Enjoying the Ride.

The Bottom Line:

As Andy Dufresne said in the great movie The Shawshank Redemption: “You have to either get busy living or get busy dying.” He was trying to avoid being too comfortable and dying in prison.  Andy Dufresne escaped.

When a tree stops growing it starts dying.

I had to choose mediocrity or choose growth. And if I chose my comfort zone and the ensuing mediocrity, I needed to stop whining about my situation because it was my choice.

My dad once told me: “Everything is hard before it get’s easy.” My old job was hard and uncomfortable for a while. That was when I enjoyed it the most because I was growing. When it became comfortable, I became dissatisfied.

Now my challenge is to not allow this new chapter in my life to become too comfortable. I do not see that happening any time soon. Maybe that is why I am enjoying this chapter so much!

Now, like the others who broke out of their comfort zones:

I have no regrets and I am never looking back!

Question:

How does your comfort zone keep you from growing?

Dave Anderson is coauthor of Becoming a Leader of Character – Six Habits that Make or Break a Leader at Work and at Home with his father General James L. Anderson (USA Retired).

You can order Becoming a Leader of Character on Amazon by clicking here:

bit.ly/LOCBook.

You can also find Becoming a Leader of Character at Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million and other retailers.