4 Ways To Really Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone And Start Seeing Results
As an entrepreneur, your comfort zone is the most dangerous place to be.
Depending on what industry you're in, there will be a lot of sharks who are waiting to pounce at any opportunity that crosses them.
In tech, constant innovation and iteration are a must - without it, your business will be gasping for air whilst the competition blows by.
Entrepreneurship is an incredibly demanding career path - you must be a certain type of person to be successful here.
Although nothing is guaranteed in business - there is one thing I'd say that is.
That is the fact that you're going to fail over and over.
You're going to constantly be exposed to situations you never thought you'll ever be in before.
Meetings, challenges, sales encounters and so much more.
This is why you must learn to embrace these bewildering situations and make them your norm.
You must learn to steer the ship away from safety and into the mouth of danger.
Danger is where you'll thrive.
Danger is where the world's treasures lie - treasures that those who don't venture out will never experience.
To enjoy these treasures, you must learn to step out of your comfort zone.
At the start, it may be difficult and most of all SCARY.
There's nothing scarier than stepping into a minefield all alone, with no one but yourself.
Every step you take will come with a deep breath in.
Every step will come with infinite uncertainty because you don't know what consequences your actions will bring about.
As human beings, we're inherently lazy.
We choose to take the path of least resistance.
Staying in and watching TV or going to the gym.
Sleeping in on the weekends, or getting up to catch up on some work.
Ordering food or going to the kitchen and cooking a meal.
Most of us would probably choose option A since it's the easiest.
I know I would - or at least would have before.
I've never been the most confident person in the world.
I think I'm more of what you'd call an 'introvert.'
During school and life before last year, I never did anything for the purpose of getting attention.
Our school would host a lot of events, speaking, competitions but I would never volunteer for any because I was afraid.
I was afraid of what people might think of me.
I was afraid of what might happen if I fail.
The last thing I could have ever wanted was attention.
Little did I know that attention is the most valuable commodity after time.
Why?
Look at apps such as Facebook.
Facebook makes almost nothing from its users.
It's a free platform - but they make money because people pay to get attention to their products or service.
As soon as something goes viral, everyone is on these platforms looking for the news.
TikTok is the latest platform that capitalised on people's attention.
There are TikTok famous people who managed to gain tens, even hundreds of millions of followers in a mind-blowing amount of time because of people's attention.
If you've watched some of my YouTube videos, you'll know my opinion on TikTok.
Once I finished my formal education, I started to notice how I've neglected my personal growth by taking no initiative in learning valuable skills.
Skills such as communication, speaking, accepting challenges, even putting 110% into something.
I wouldn't say I held all the blame, the school system also played a massive part in this.
They prioritise learning how to read and count over talking to others and negotiating.
Elon Musk claimed that "Drug dealers know more about running a business than 95% of college professors."
Sadly this is true and just goes to show how the traditional schooling system is run.
After finishing formal education, I realised how I didn't know anything about talking to people, networking, or a single thing about business too.
Once I finally made the decision to start my own business, the online, e-commerce business, I had to finally (consciously) make the decision to become a life-long learner.
I had to accept the fact that in order to survive and thrive in unknown territories, I had to adapt and stay ahead of the rest.
This might sound like a similar situation that you're currently in - finally realising that in order to play the game, you have to learn the game.
But for naturally introverted people, or anyone in general, how do you learn to play the game?
Put Yourself In Uncomfortable Situations
Just Do It
'Just Do It.'
In the book, 'Shoe Dog,' Phil Knight talks about building Nike and his journey.
Phil discusses the early challenges Nike faced, but how their brand and message were prominent throughout the journey.
Even now, after hundreds of conversations with people, I still get exhausted.
In reality, you never truly learn to conquer fears, you just learn to deal with them.
Like I mentioned under the last point, during the sales job, my heart would still pound at the start of each day - even thinking about it now makes me anxious.
But when you just do it, you start getting a little more comfortable.
After the sales job, I had a marketing agency whilst also working full time at Amazon.
I've made a few YouTube videos talking about the experience of working at Amazon.
During the marketing agency, I thought that I would be able to cold call, and close deals because I had managed to previously knock on people's doors and sell them in person.
This was far from the truth - once again, my heart would pound like it wanted to break out of my chest.
I just had to learn to do it.
You need to rest assured knowing that there is no comfort on either side.
You either struggle but succeed, or you struggle and fail because you never tried.
Have a Strong WHY
"I want to make a lot of money."
That used to be my reason for wanting to be successful.
I just wanted to earn a lot because there is so much you can do with a lot of money.
Why else would you go into entrepreneurship and want to earn crazy amounts?
You don't become an entrepreneur because you like to fail.
You don't become an entrepreneur because you want to help other people through your product.
You do it for money, right?
Now no matter how true those are to you, you will most likely fail.
Why?
Becaues your 'WHY' is not strong enough.
Humans have very strong emotions.
We do things because of emotions.
When your WHY is that you want to make a lot of money, you're most likely going to give up at the first sign of failure.
I've been so close to giving up so many times - everyday, I'm faced with derailing uncertainty.
This is, however, due to the fact that when I got into entrepreneurship, I was fed with ideas that starting a business is extremely hard.
In one of my blogs, I mention how it's only as hard as you make it out to be.
The reason I haven't given up yet is largely because my WHY is strong enough to keep me going on the right path.
I have managed to shift my WHY from 'I want to make money' to something a lot more powerful and motivating.
Once you really know the reason you're doing what you're doing, it will become the most important thing for you to achieve.
Do You Really Want To Do This
There will be times when you question if this is what you should be doing.
The answer is all in your head - whatever you think, is probably the right answer.
Gary Vee talks about how you need to find something that you're truly passionate about.
It's very hard to get out of your comfort zone.
In my case, every aspect of business was out of my comfort zone - but I have made the conscious decision that I want nothing other than this.
It's a lot easier to do something you're already used to and enjoy doing.
Personally, I don't believe in doing what you're passionate about.
I used to be passionate about video games - I know hundreds or thousands of people who earn an insane amount from gaming.
But if I had pursued gaming and relied on that to make me money, I would have ended up hating it.
It most likely would have taken me years to start seeing some results.
This is why instead of following your passion, ask yourself if 'you really want to do this.'
If not, you can always just pivot and do something else.
At the end of the day, entrepreneurship is not a destination - it's an ongoing journey.
Make sure you're taking a journey that you can live with.
Have you learn something new in this article?
Let me know below!
Till next time,
Mohamad
Comments
Post a Comment