 Have you ever had things like, you never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone? Change begins at the end of your comfort zone. Life always begins with one step outside your comfort zone. The only thing that is stopping you from where you are to where you want to go is your comfort zone. Before anything great is really achieved, your comfort zone must be disturbed or you have to be uncomfortable in order to be successful. In some ways, if you stay in your comfort zone, you would never do the things you need to do. There are a lot more of these. Guess what? They are different people's opinion, not one person. So maybe it is true that to become successful, you must be willing to step out of your comfort zone. Okay? To begin with, what is a comfort zone? Roy T. Bennett defines it this way. The comfort zone is a psychological state in which one feels familiar, safe, at ease, and secure. You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone. Change begins at the end of your comfort zone. So comfort zones aren't really about comfort but fears. Most times, we do not want to push ourselves to achieve our big dreams and goals not because we are comfortable with our current positions but because we are scared. We are afraid of the unknown, worried about the outcome that we'll get when we take specific actions, and most of all, scared of failure. We don't want to disappoint others and ourselves. We fear that we may never have the courage to try again if we let ourselves down while trying. Hold on a bit. Before you get too hard on yourself, everyone of us feels that way. We all have fears and no one thinks it's that easy to step out of one's comfort zone in the name of achieving one's goals. It's tough. However, some people learn to break out of their comfort zone and in the end, they accomplish their life goals. So how can you achieve yours? Well, in this video, I'll share with you 9 steps of getting out of your comfort zone. If you're new here, consider subscribing so that you don't miss out on exciting videos like this. 1. Be aware of what's outside your comfort zone. To move out of your comfort zone, you have to first identify the things outside that zone that are worth going the extra mile to achieve. In clear terms, what are the goals and dreams that you genuinely want to achieve but are too scared to take a step towards because you think you might fail when you identify what these goals are, then you can easily work towards accomplishing it. So here's a small exercise you can practice. Take a sheet and draw a circle on the outer part of the circle, write the things that you are scared of doing, and write those you are comfortable doing inside the circle. When you have this clearly outlined, you can begin to take steps to help yourself out of your comfort zone and reach out for the things beyond. 2. Get information. Most times, we get anxious because of the fear of the unknown as a result. We do not want to push past the boundaries of what makes us feel safe. So to break out of your comfort zone, it will help to inform and educate yourself about the subject in question. Maybe if you knew more about it, then you wouldn't be so scared after all. If you need to, read books, talk to people who have done something similar, take courses, read articles online, etc. You see, the more informed you are about a subject, the less scary it becomes to you because information does say a spar. 3. Have a plan. Next to get an informed is having a plan. How do you intend to push past your fear and achieve your goals? Your plan should outline a detailed step-by-step guide to help you accomplish your vision with the simple steps top in the list. Also, this plan should clearly state your mini-goals that are involved in getting to the overall goals. Each of the steps involved should be geared at accomplishing those mini-goals one after the other. An essential part of this is also to state some of the likely challenges you'll face and also outline the steps you'll take to overcome them. Having a plan like this prepares you for what is to come and also makes you feel more capable of handling the situation. 4. Take baby steps. Now that you have a plan, what's next? Start with the first step. Lao Tzu, an Asian-Chinese philosopher and writer said, a journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step. Don't try to jump right out of your comfort zone. No, take baby steps to get out of it otherwise you'll jump right back into that zone. For instance, say you intend to lose weight from a size 20 to a size 16. You don't need to starve yourself or set a tough goal to achieve it. Start by taking simple steps such as incorporating fruits and veggies into your daily meal plan and say 30 minutes of workout. Don't set goals like this. Do high-intensity workouts for 1 hour and 30 minutes daily and have a meal plan like this, breakfast, a cup of smoothie, lunch, one chicken breast, dinner, a plate of salad. Taking steps like this will make you give up quicker than you imagined. So start with baby steps. 5. Try something new until you feel comfortable. Joe Hendricks, a professional business and startup blogger said, anything that I struggle with I keep trying different approaches until I'm no longer scared of it. Sometimes it takes a while to get comfortable so I try different approaches daily or just keep at it until it becomes comfortable then I move to the next uncomfortable thing. Yes, it might be scary at first but ensure that you commit to it and I promise you'll get used to it in no time. 6. Agree to do something that you wouldn't normally do. Russell Cumber, a software consultant said, sometimes when someone offers me something that I would normally refuse, I like to surprise myself by saying yes whether it is something business related like trying a new strategy or accepting an invitation to join an amateur sports team on the weekend. Even if it doesn't work out, I always learn something from the experience. You see, when you agree to do something that you normally wouldn't do, you begin to set yourself up to take on new opportunities and challenges that you might have been too scared to do in the past. 7. Hang around people who know how to take calculated risks. Think about people who are doing great things and achieving their goals. How many of such people do you have around you? Well, if you don't, then you should consider getting close to some and spending more time around them because when you do, your influence will start to have an effect on your behavior. 8. Put yourself in a new environment. Sometimes what you need is a different perspective to break you out of your comfort zone and a great way to achieve it is to put yourself in a new environment. Barbara Carlton, a jewelry designer said, begin with some small changes that do not present any real threats such as eating at a different restaurant in a different part of town or attending an art exhibition or gun show. The idea is to place yourself in new arenas where you control the interaction. 9. Do what you are afraid of doing. What's the worst that can happen when you do something that you were initially scared to do? I'm guessing failure is the worst outcome. You know, it's absolutely okay to fail on your first attempt. How can you learn if you keep getting lucky every time you attempt something? So even if you're afraid, be courageous enough to take a step irrespective. Thank you very much for watching our videos. If you liked this video, watch more videos on our channel and subscribe. We love you.