That’s JUST the way we do things around here

When was the last time you got out of your comfort zone?

I’m aware I may have asked this question before, but I got reminded last week while participating in a webinar.

One of the speakers shared with the audience that when he woke up every morning, he planned one activity for that day to get out of his comfort zone.

His thinking was simple and very similar to mine. Although I don’t wake up with the same intention every morning.

Maybe I should. 

When you go out of your comfort zone, you learn. When you learn, you grow. When you grow, you make life better for yourself.  

Erikjan Lantink

One of your first reactions may be that you don’t have time to experiment and go out of your comfort zone every day. 

I agree when you’re thinking of out-of-comfort type of experiences like climbing Mount Everest, to name a big one. 

Climbing Mount Everest is a transformational experience. Planning, preparing, and then executing will most likely change your life significantly.

Unless it’s perhaps the tenth time, you’ve climbed Mount Everest. Then, you need a different challenge and break through the status quo.

And that’s the point.

There are many things we do daily we don’t even think of any more. They’ve become such part of our routine that we do them on autopilot.

For example, the way you brush your teeth or the way you towel off after the shower. Activities that do not engage your brain.

They are every day, forgettable activities.

Those are some of the activities where you may begin to think about changing things up slightly. 

What if you would towel off differently next time you step out of the shower?

When you manage to think about it and do it, I promise you it will provide you with a different experience. It might even make you slightly uncomfortable.

Your turn:

With a little bit of curiosity, creativity, and determination, I’m sure you can think of some things you may do differently, starting even today. 

The speaker I referred to earlier designed a different experience for himself every day. No matter how small or insignificant.

He felt it helped him and his business to stay alert, energized, and creative.

He shared that he excelled in an environment where learning was constant, and the status quo was frequently challenged.

In the end, it’s all about creating awareness. 

We often create so much routine behavior that we don’t even think anymore whether things can be done differently. 

Remember the sentence: “That’s JUST the way we do things around here”. 

If you ever come across those words in your personal life, your team, or your business, or you hear yourself saying those words, I hope all the alarm bells will go off (now). 

Sticking to the way things are done around here is killing what you’re trying to accomplish. 

Just ask the likes of Blockbuster video. They stuck to their status quo and saw themselves disrupted and made irrelevant by Netflix.

My out of comfort activity of today is to change my daily working habits. Curious about what I will find out. 

Let me know about your little out-of-comfort experiment.

Do more of what makes you happy, and do it a bit differently.

Erikjan

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