Do you let yourself get outside of your comfort zone often? When you do, what is it that pushes you out? Or perhaps pulls you out? And what makes you jump back in?

I know a lot of people that seem to live on the edge of comfort. They know what they want – and they know what it will take to get there, and from time to time they ‘stick their toe’ over the edge, but then retreat back into safety.

Let’s chat about safety for a minute. What does it mean to you? For a lot of people, they tell me safety means knowing what is coming up, or not tempting pain, or even not letting themselves or others down. Whatever your meaning of safety, I wonder if it works?

Recently I was talking to a client who really would like to start his own business. He has a great business idea and even a sound business plan. He regularly updates the business plan – however since he started planning (4 years ago), he hasn’t stepped out of the reflective mode, he is in his safety zone.

For him, being safe means all of those things I mentioned before and guess what? He has no idea what is coming up, he is actually in pain and discomfort in his current job because it no longer suits him and he is definitely letting himself down as well as many people he has made ‘promises’ to about starting his own business. So, his strategy for safety isn’t working at all!

Even knowing that, how does one step out of their comfort zone and push their boundaries? The equation isn’t actually all that hard. The general answer – start. For this client of mine, we have created an action plan that incorporates starting something. Action is needed and required to achieve any goal. And, although movement forward might be a bit scary, the option of staying in status quo can be an even scarier one!

Which side of the barrier do you sit on?