Trapped in Your Comfort Zone?

“And from the discontent of man the world’s best progress springs.”

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox - Author and Poet

Comfort Zone. Sounds kind of nice doesn’t? We all have one you know. It’s that familiar area of how we see things and how we react in certain situations. We are who we are because we think, feel and act the way we do. Often if we’re reasonably successful we subtly settle into our comfort zone whether we intend to or not. While there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with being in a comfort zone it can often be the most daunting obstacle we face.

Why? Well if your comfort zone is allowing you to continue to be successful and keep achieving at a high level you obviously don’t have a problem. However, the vast majority of the time it’s the hidden blind spot that gets us stuck when things aren’t going so well. Have you been in the situation where your competition begins eating your lunch and you’re at a loss on what to do? Do you ask yourself what’s causing it? Could it be they’re better prepared, more competent or better connected and informed than you are? This is a great example of where it’s not the competition that’s beating you, it’s your comfort zone.

Don’t think your comfort zone has that much power? Ask yourself these questions:

- When’s the last time you tried to see the world from a different point of view?

- Have you ever spent time just dreaming up things you’ve never thought of before?

- Have you ever tried to take the opposite view on something you feel really strongly about?

These are just a few of the questions you can challenge yourself with to see just how strong the pull of your comfort zone is.

We often end up like arrogant pit bulls when we’re around people who challenge our thinking. When our comfort zone is at stake we get angry and frustrated at those trying to give us a different viewpoint. When all else fails we’ll often just dismiss others perspectives as flat out wrong.

So what do great leaders do? How do they avoid the Comfort Trap? In my experience the main attribute of a great leader is dissatisfaction with the status quo. They seem to have an innate understanding that the status quo is their strongest enemy. Great leaders see the trap of surrounding themselves only with people that agree with them. They seek out people smarter than themselves that look at the world through a different prism. Seeing change as a threat is the trap they can see and feel.

Once you see your comfort zone for what it is, the boat that doesn’t want to be rocked, you can begin pushing your way through it. Do you know what’s waiting for you on the other side? Yep, other people’s comfort zones. Knowing what a huge obstacle it is, great leaders lead others out of their comfort zones in the same way they lead themselves out of theirs.

The success you have as the leader of your company or organization will be directly tied to how well you can get others to challenge their comfort zones. What would you need to do as a leader to get them to willingly leave their comfort zone? Is your dissatisfaction with the status quo great enough to provide the type of leadership needed to defeat such a foe?

If you want to achieve great things, sooner or later you’ll need to come up with solid actionable answers to these questions. Lee Thayer, a great leadership coach I’ve quoted from before says; “The pursuit of a cause in not a goal. It is, however, the best way of life.” Figure that out and you’ll live the life few leaders ever do.