How to Push Yourself Out of Your Comfort Zone... And Start Thriving At Something New
About two years ago, before I became a Vision Board guru, I realized I made a lot of bad choices (they all seemed smart at the time) and I was standing at a dead end in my personal life wondering, quite candidly, how in the world did I get here?
Better yet, I kept asking myself how do I get out of this?
I tried everything from reading books, going to networking events, journaling, meditating, and going screen-free for an hour every morning (because that's what successful people do according to click-bait articles), but nothing was working for me. That's when I decided to find a way that would work for me and my personality.
Here are the four steps I took that pushed me to commit to my goals and FINALLY become the change I wanted to see in my life.
Take a class that costs REAL MONEY.
Why does it have to cost money, you ask? Well, how many of us have a gym in our apartments or in our offices at work? Now, how many of us REALLY go? No matter how many free options I've ever had, the only time I've ever been consistent with going to the gym is when I'm paying a monthly fee to hop on a treadmill or take a zumba class. No matter who you are or where you are, MONEY TALKS.
Even in goal setting, when you put your money on the line, that sends a jolt to your brain that you've invested in making this goal a reality and it is now your job to make it come true. There are plenty of places to find free classes (and I completely recommend taking them and leveling up your skills) but when you're making a BIG change to something you've never done before it doesn't hurt to have a psychological motivator to keep you going when times get tough.
Pro tip: Take a class that has a specific date and time. Recorded lectures give you the opportunity to say "I'll do this tomorrow" or "I'm tired right now, I'll come back to this later." When you know that you have to show up on a certain date and time to take the class, you will be there, pen-and-paper in hand. (Bye-bye procrastination!)
Get an accountability partner
A good accountability partner can be life changing. In short, this is a person that calls you at a particular date and time on an ongoing basis to talk about your progress on your goals. This can be a best friend or an acquaintance as long as they're focused on helping you achieve your goals and they are CONSISTENT.
When I was preparing to go back to grad school, I was ANNOYED with studying for the GRE. To be honest, I hated it. No matter how much I knew I needed to do this to get into a good program, I could not actually stay consistent with studying. I would start, study for an hour and then put the book down for a month or two. This cycle would continue for over a year until I decided to get a study partner. Every week for 3 months, my friend and I would choose what chapters we'd study, set concrete goals in how we scored in the sample tests and call each other on Sundays to touch base.
Hire a professional.
Hiring a professional is not always necessary, but sometimes the skills you don't have can be a barrier to getting started with your goals. For example, if you want to open a bakery and you are the best baker IN THE WORLD, but you don't know how to set up a website. In fact, you've been trying to set up this website for months and you're still confused by the software.
This website is the one thing standing in the way of you and your dream because you're spending hours on end trying to figure out something that has nothing to do with baking. Rather than using this as an excuse to push back your launch date (...again), hire someone to take care of the tech while you focus on being the best baker (or writer, or entrepreneur) out there.
Pro tip: If you don't want to go through the struggle of searching online and hoping for the best, go to upwork.com and hire a freelancer. I love this site because it's easy to compare offerings and have transparency in costs.
Get started.
TODAY. (Yup, it's that simple.)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Click here to join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!