A word of caution arises when we become lethargic in our comfort zones. In such scenarios, more often than not we are bound to lose our differentiating edge and may end up being a moderate performer.
The author of an article in peoplematters.in states that he had an opportunity of listening to Varadarajan Srinivasan, a global HR leader with over three decades of experience on how can we push ourselves to step out of our comfort zones.
'During the conversation, Raja pushed us as a group to consider what he calls Person’s Optimal Anxiety (POA) – not to be too anxious to flunk but some amount that takes us out of our comfort zone and that is what pushes us to overachieve,' the author states.
An obvious question that would come to each of our minds is: why to step out, why risk it?
While a thoughtful response may be that it accelerates performance and provides more learning opportunities, as leaders a critical consideration is to avoid developing redundancies.
As shared by Raja, here is how we can push ourselves and our teams to step out of the comfort zones:
* Most of the times it is the hesitation to take the first step that prevents us from leaving the comfort zone.
If we have decided to take on a journey, just take the first step and always remember that the worst thing that can happen to us is failure.
And if we can take that failure as a learning then it’s the best thing that could have happened to us.
* Many a time, we fear for the unknown, and true is a common tagline that there is a victory lying ahead of our fears. So, let’s try something different and when we do that the sense of achievement is phenomenal.
If you are someone who fears the impact of your own actions on self, others and the organisation, set expectations internally, get a safety net and share your fears at the onset.
* Acceptance of failure is critical in helping us push ourselves to step out of the comfort zone. A good way of making this happen is to take risks with a mindset of non-attachment.
If we are too attached to the risk, chances of us being open to the failure are very low and that will severely restrict ourselves from taking the next steps.
Give yourself an opportunity to know yourself by always trying something new. Once you know how you make decisions and handle crises, creating this mindset shift will be easier.
Make decisions based on the gut feeling, say yes more often than no, jump into things, stretch yourself, enjoy the unknown, experiment and who knows tomorrow may actually be way more fulfilling than today.
Courtesy: www.peoplematters.in
