IT 011: 4 Tips to Leaving Your Comfort Zone So You Can Stop Self-Sabotaging & Start Living

Today, I want to talk about why you have to leave your comfort zone if you want to succeed, give you some true stories about leaving my comfort zone that I know you can relate to, and leave you with some tips for leaving your own comfort zone.

I really wish I had these tips that I’m about to share with you when I first started to tiptoe outside of my comfort zone.

So as a bonus, I made a downloadable PDF for you at bit.ly/comfortzonedownloadso you can refer to the 4 tips I outline in this audio any time you need it.

If you’re ready to take action and leave your comfort zone, and could use some support, then click here to listen to today’s Podcast in iTunes or here to listen to it on my website. Or, read the transcript below.

If you’re here, I bet you have big dreams, love taking action, and feel a calling to share your message with the world.

Maybe you’re thinking of leaving your job and starting your own business.

Maybe you’ve already started your own business.

Maybe you’re considering being a yoga teacher, a life coach, a personal trainer.

Leaving Your Comfort Zone is Inevitable if You Have Big Dreams

No matter which of these you relate to, I guarantee that you will come across the boundaries of your comfort zone. And, it will terrify the living daylights out of you. I have to say, that even though I’m talking to you about the importance of leaving your comfort zone, I still hate doing it – it feels awful! That’s why it’s called leaving your comfort zone – it’s uncomfortable!

But it’s the only way to expand.

Reality Check – Do You Really NEED to Leave Your Comfort Zone?

Right now, I want you to consider your dreams, your purpose, how you want to show up and serve in the world.

Next, I want you to consider your life today.

Now answer this: do you have all of the skills, experience and connections that will help you succeed on the level that you truly desire?

Now unless you’re super advanced in your dream business already, I am 100% sure that your answer is no.

And I am also 100% sure that in your journey forward will require you to leave your comfort zone.

Leaving Your Comfort Zone Gets Easier With Practice – Trust Me!

I do have good news though – once you take your first leap, it gets easier. I promise, it’s only super super scary the first time around. But if you don’t get over this fear of leaving your comfort zone, you will continue to sabotage your journey.

For example, I was SO embarrassed to do my first podcast. It was very much outside of my comfort zone. I literally forced my husband to get out of earshot, and I couldn’t listen to my recording for the longest time because it felt so strange!

Now, I absolutely LOVE it, and it’s such a fun part of my business that I look forward to every other week. It allows me to show up for my purpose in a bigger way, by giving my private coaching clients valuable content that they can listen to on the go, and it allows me to serve women who aren’t ready to start coaching yet, but who still want to learn from and receive the energy of a practicing transformational life coach.

That wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t leave my comfort zone.

This same fear of leaving my comfort zone showed up when I led my very first webinar in December. I actually self-sabotaged because I was SO nervous and I made myself really sick with the flu a few days beforehand (which happened to be on Christmas). I still showed up, and it was the most fun and rewarding thing I’ve done with my business so far. I’m planning on doing these regularly now!

The same thing happened when I led my first coaching session, even though they were practice sessions! I was so nervous before every session that I used to pace around my house in jitters!

It was also really uncomfortable for me to post about my business on social media because I was afraid of what other people – namely, people from high school who I didn’t even really talk to, old friends who had dropped out my life, and my family – would think.

Now, social media is an essential marketing tool for my business, and how I meet so many of my amazing clients!

Now, back over to you!

Is there something outside of your comfort zone that will help you move forward, that you haven’t been able to move past?

Then I have 4 tips about leaving your comfort zone that I wish I knew about five years ago!

1. I want you to realize that leaving your comfort zone gets easier with practice, just like working out. Before, having to leave my comfort zone used to STOP me from moving forward, and now, I acknowledge it, take a deep breath, and move forward!

1. Since it gets easier with practice, this means that you have to summon some real willpower to get started. In the beginning, you might have to force yourself, especially if you know that it’s the next step you must take. It’s like starting to work out after you haven’t gone to the gym in a long time – you’ve gotta motivate yourself. The best way to do that is to have some really attractive goals. Get clear on your why and get strong in your why.

1. I want you to take inventory of all of the times you’ve left your comfort zone in the past that have helped you grow and become who you are today (it should actually be every single time!). Refer to this every time you feel afraid, to help you realize just how worth it is to expand!

1. I want you to create a board of your personal goddess council to support you. I want you to print a picture of everyone you admire, look up to, and are inspired by, and imagine that they’re there, cheering you on, giving you advice, and urging you to share your message. They’ve gone through the same thing. Look at it whenever you’re about to do something that scares you.

Remember to grab your comfort zone download at bit.ly/comfortzonedownload so you can refer to the 4 tips any time you need them!