Getting out of your comfort zone is hard - but it feels so good when done well

A lot of us are already feeling the post-holiday going into autumn blues. It comes round every year and makes us feel blue when thinking about those cold and grey mornings. How great would it be if we would not fall into that mental trap this time by finding a new challenge for ourselves by trying to leave our comfort zone?

Leaving our comfort zone however is hard and requires effort. Just this week after coming back from holiday, I had a very important meeting in front of many leaders of my organisation. This was a big step out of my personal comfort zone, as they had a lot more experience than myself in presenting concepts, while I had to manage to make them accept my proposals and get involved in an engaging debate. That is a great example for a step out of one’s comfort zone. 

The great thing however is, that once we did it and we managed the challenge we faced - it feels amazing and all the effort and personal development we had to go through seem to worth it. This is how we grow. By always stepping that little bit further out of the familiar and taking on new challenges in a controlled manner that we can handle with a bit of support. The beauty here is that we don’t only grow from a skills perspective but also form a mental perspective. We learn to stay clam, control our nerves and generally practice public speaking in a clear and concise way. 

So in order to overcome the autumn blues - why not find something that takes you just a bit out of your comfort zone to get into? Surely there is something where we feel we can step up and go that extra mile. This can help us feel challenged again as well as being incredibly rewarding once we managed to deliver.  Find a project this autumn that takes you out of that comfort zone - it is so rewarding once you manage the new challenge.