If the greatest enemy, foe and adversary of self-confidence is trepidation, fear and apprehension, then the greatest enemy of human achievement and attainment is the comfort zone. Psychologists have determined that each of us has natural tendency to slip into a zone of performance and behaviour where we are comfortable—one that is easy and unchallenging, and then to stay there. Many unrealized dreams are buried in the comfort zone. You can never find leaders who know their onions there. Why? Because they know that there is always more to do and become till they breathe their last.
Many people have stopped striving for more feat and exploit. Many individuals have relaxed after achieving a diminutive, miniature and little echelon of success. And day-by-day, they develop, build up and extend the habits that lead to underachievement and failure. They settle for far less than what they are truly capable of. Many people are in the comfort zone of their own making. Do not forget this truth: Your present attitude and personality, your present habitual way of responding to people and to life, is your comfort zone. The present amount of money you earn, your present standard of living, and your current level of performance in your work is your comfort zone. Your present level of mental and physical fitness is your comfort zone.
The natural tendency, once a person gets into a comfort zone, is to resist change of any kind, even beneficial change. On the condition that you are forced out of your comfort zone, like the collapse of a relationship, or the loss of a job, your natural tendency will be to attempt to recreate the same comfort zone, with the same type of person, or doing the same work. Does this sound like you? If the answer is in affirmation, then it is because of you I am addressing this issue.
Everyone has had the experience of losing a job that they disliked only to go out looking for a similar job, doing the same work. We get into a relationship that does not work out and our natural tendency is to try to form a new relationship with a similar type of person. We earn a certain amount of money and rather than striving to increase our earning ability, we adjust our lifestyle and accommodate to our financial situation.
The tragedy of the comfort zone is that it, first of all, starts off by being comfortable, but it leads rapidly to complacency and self-satisfaction. Complacency eventually leads to boredom and tedium, to the question, “Is this all there is?” Instead of life being an exciting adventure, it becomes merely a boring repetition of what happened yesterday.
Eventually, the comfort zone leads through complacency and boredom to frustration and unhappiness. Deep down inside, the average person knows that he or she is put on this earth with amazing capabilities. He or she knows that there is something better than this. As Carl Rogers, once said: “There is within every organism an inborn drive toward the complete fulfillment of its inherent possibilities.” There is nagging something inside that tells each person that there is far more that he or she could be and have and do. This feeling is within you as well.
Great men and women are those who absolutely believe that they are put on this earth to do something wonderful with their lives. They have a vision of something greater or better than their current circumstances. Personal greatness means having a sense of destiny and a conviction that your thoughts and your imagination are the only real limits to your possibilities.
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William James said, “Compared to what we ought to be, we are only half awake. We are making use of only a small part of our physical and mental resources. Stating the thing broadly, the human individual thus lives far within his limits. He possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use.” When you understand what Williams James did say, you would know that no matter your present level of achievement, you can still achieve more. You can still write more books. You can still compose more songs. You can still become more. You can earn more money. Your potential is inexhaustible. Never allow your present level of success shove you to pack your bags, leave the house of continuous improvement and achievement, and start living on the inside of comfort zone. Never get to a level where you’d stop setting higher goals for yourself.
In a five-year study of leaders, reported in his book, “Leaders”, Warren Bennis discovered that each of them consciously avoided the “comfort zone” by continuously setting higher goals. They never allowed themselves to become complacent. They lived their lives fully extended, always striving to be and do more. For the umpteenth time, you can become better than you are right now and you can do more than you are doing right now. Till you put off your earth-suit, do not stop striving to become more and to do more.
To develop unshakable self-confidence, you need to see yourself and think of yourself as a leader, and to do what leaders do. You need to stretch yourself toward the outermost boundaries of your potential. You need to set goals that draw out of you the very best that is in you. You need to work toward objectives that cause you to feel a sense of mastery and peak performance. And it all begins with a pad of paper, a pen, and you. Get out of your comfort zone and set higher goals for yourself, so that you can become more and do more.
See you where great people are found!
and then