Everyone dreams of living a comfortable life. No one wants to be disturbed by menial chores and uncomfortable situations.
But the reality is no matter how much luxury you have, you life will start getting bored if you just lean back relax and do nothing significant. Excitement lies in taking up new challenges and it is not easy or comforting but it is better than boredom.
Back in 2008 when I traveled out of India for the first time, I felt very uncomfortable. I had no idea about immigration formalities and how the entire thing works. I was also concerned about safety. I was traveling alone and it was a moment to be remembered. Or rather call it an unforgettable event than a memorable one. But the next time when I traveled to China in 2009, I felt very easy and comfortable. I learned that immigration formalities are the same across all the countries and it is not a dangerous thing as long as we are alert.
Some people who read this will think… ‘is it such a big deal to travel out of India?’ and some may think ‘Wow, Deepak has traveled alone to countries outside of India at such an young age’. That’s the difference. If you do it one time, the next one becomes natural and usual.
To give you another example, I thought shifting homes was such a big deal. I recently moved and now I feel confident that I can even take another move within a few years without any worries.
The first time I went on a TV interview show, I felt almost sick. Thank Go!d I did not faint in front of the camera. And now whenever someone asks me to do an interview I hardly prepare and think about it for an hour. Same goes for public speaking as well.
Every time you cross your comfort zone boundary and discover a new place or activity, it is going to be uncomfortable. But once you do it, you grow as a person and you are now capable of growing even more and expanding your boundaries. Great people are great because they have expanded their personal boundaries so much that doing ‘difficult’ things becomes easy for them.
Expanding your comfort zone is completely different from forming habits. Comfort zone is about doing it once with great difficulty and then it becomes exponentially easier every time you do it. Habits are easy to do the first time and becomes exponentially difficult to retain it over the long term. Some say it is easy after a month, may be, easier for the second month but not easy after years. Show me a person who is going to the gym regularly for the past 10 years! 
Examples of expanding your comfort zone:
- Moving to a new home
- Changing careers
- Visiting a new country
- Approaching woman (for single guys!)
- Public speaking
- Learning a new language
- Contacting a celebrity or a VIP
- Driving a car or truck.
- Learning to swim
- Learning to cook
Just see the contrast in habits. Habits are easy to do for the first time and kind of gets difficult to stick to the routine and form a habit. In fact it is easiest the first time and becomes exponentially harder as you go along.
Examples of habits:
- Eating only organic foods
- Meditating every morning
- Drinking a not so tasty health drink (Like wheat grass juice)
- Going to the gym
- Doing Yoga
- Habit of reading books 1 hour per day.
Hope you got some good insights from this post. Leave a comment to let me know what’s on your mind!
{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice article. I recently quit my 5 year old job because I wanted to get out of my comfort zone. Now I am searching for a new job. This article showed me that I am on the right track. Thank you.
Great! All the best for your career.
Very good article.all the best for ur career.
Very nice article.. I am working in stock exchange from last 6 years but i am not feeling comfort zone here, i am very much interested in doing own business in two wheeler garage or open a Hotel, Restaurant.
Dear Deepak,
Really it is a good one,
The people can distinguish the difference between Habits and Comfort,
Many people are afraid of doing things for one time (first time),
And they are preparing to attend the easy things (habits) and failing there also.
This article will show even for the comfort group do it in a better way at once,
ALL the BEST to you and your Group.
Regards
Shanmugam VAiyapuri.
Eye , i will say mind opening article. I am not happy with my current business doing since last 7 year. And this will help me to face challenge that i will thinking to explore. Thanks for motivation.
Nice article.. I have faced such many situations in my life as well viz. Changing house, going gym etc but even after facing these situations repeatedly I still feel uncomfortable when it comes again..!
Thanx Deepak for posting such a nice article. I quit my old job and have joined a new company and also shifted to a new home. And yes anything u do for the first tym is difficult but once u do it, nothing remains difficult. Yr article has shown me that i m also doing the ryt thing by trying something new. thanx again. And my best wishes for the new year 2013(HAPPY NEW YEAR).
Hi, Reached the article in time . As an 59 years old without any tensions living with some good habits (though boring) except one comfotzone like bullet riding now understand the easy ways to solve my boring problems. Thank you for your article. Raju George.
I am honored to have a comment in my blog from an elderly person like you. It is not everyday a 59 year old person reads article from a 25 yr old kid and leaves a comment. (Except my dad!)
Good one Deepak, admire your attitude more than your writing style..keep on
Its thrill to move out of a comfort zone….
I felt entire article is of my perspective.
Excellent Deepak!
I am living in Dubai. I have everything, what I want. Now life is really boring. I am planning to change my job to face fresh challanges. It is very nice article indeed. Great! Keep writing!
Cheers…
Good to hear this from a person who has been there, done that!
Dear Deepak – Impressed with Graph. Wish you a Happy New Year and great achievements ahead.
Really inspiring! I realize how important to expand our comfort zone.
The theme deals with our own mental ability and stability.
Sometimes when we take a big decision one part of our brain ll give u more hope courage and confidence to do that, Same way another part ll resist u to do that by imagining the negative scenarios, falls, pain, inability, our weakness etc., So this mental war ll happen in everyones life but the beauty is how far we manage the mental war and keep on focusing in our long term goal. This can be easily said in words but need more will power to implement it. That is inturn decides our fate of fall or raise.
Thanx Deepak for guiding us for future… it will surly helpful for me.
Good one…infact, recently I was so feared to speak to d girl whom I liked..but, one day I jus went out of my comfort zone n spoke to her…that day has made a lot of difference in my life now…
ya deepak, any ambiguity once you go through, you will cross comfort zone and we are confident for next time. but, keepin up with habits (good) is what we need to look on. once you start exploring new tasks initially you know nothing but after crossing comfort zone atleast we know something. we can be confident. so we need try new things in life.
yaa its quiet a good suggestion to follow its really fun to do things to cross our comfort zone
Sometimes doing everything as a challenge alone can’t make anyone a better person- I mean a socially responsible person, doing anything with sense what makes anyone’s deed an usefully productive.kindness,emotional values are more important to everyone.these things can not be taught.that is what made our nation shameful (the recent incident in our capital city).
Hey friend
Really this article gave a brave heart. Cool
Love this one. I’m also have same dilemma after working in same field for years.
i recently joined your blog and was really inspired by your articles, the only question raised into my mind was if you are a millionare yourself ;9 i read a post in which you said you’re working on in , but do you have earn any real income , , , you are a blogger since 2006 , how much more time u need to start a successful business?
I find the topic very relevant and useful particularly for molding ones attitude. Thanks Deepak for en lighting us with what we need. Please give relevant examples with correctly depict the same.
doing the same things again n again is not a big deal, but as u said coming out of our comfort zone is very important.Here we can explore more things beyond our imagination and ultimately success follows.
Good work sir,Thank u…….i expect more from u in future.
DEEPU, I read it yesterday itself in mail. I am happy to know here that it is inspiring many. NICE. Keep it up – RK
Thanks deepak the article was a kind of eye opening for me.
Nice article..
Thanks Deepak for sharing this post…it is really inspiring. Will be looking out for similar posts in the future.:)
Nice blog buddy,food for thought, actually whats excites us is the element of unknown,be it motorcycle expeditions or bungee jumping its difficult though initially, but you get a great thrill when u overcome the comfort zone (as u brought out) and also some amount of mental and also physical preparation is also required to break the barrier of comfort zone,be it going abroad, motorcycle expedition,etc etc, what we sometime ref to as “calculated risk”. Being a foolhardy may at times be a no go situation. keepup the goodshow buddy and wish u a very happy & successful New Year!
Very good article to start up with new year i am planning to start a two wheeler workshop with all new generation set up Mr. Deepak can u help me out in this regard
Thanks Deepak, Nice Article and motivated me lot to take decisions.:)
Nice. Thanks for reading…
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