How To Move Out Of Your Comfort Zone?


by Peck Ling - Date: 2007-03-12 - Word Count: 884 Share This!

I just read Brian Tracy's Sales Success Newsletter on "Move Out of Your Comfort Zone".

I have heard about moving out of your comfort zone many times. But it did not sink in until these recent months.

I was out of job for more than a year. I have worked for more than two decades in the IT industry. Unfortunately, circumstances changed and then something unfortunate happened to my husband. I decided to do less conventional things to achieve what I have not yet achieved in life and perhaps after that, to enjoy life without worries.

I have been asked many times if I would like to go back to work full-time. My answer has always been I would like a change in my life and have more time for the family.

Like most people, I fear changes. Any change, or even an attempt to change anything I am doing, makes me uncomfortable. I think this is generally true for most people.

One of my mentors once told me that in order to achieve more, do not be afraid to do things that make me uncomfortable.

I always feel like giving up and not doing anything uncomfortable. But I know that in order to do something different and achieve success, I have to force myself to move out of my comfort zone. I am currently involved in sales and meeting and doing a great presentation is not my forte.

At first, I felt uneasy, experienced stress, tension and embarrassment as I was just too self-conscious. I knew I had to learn to overcome it if I really want to achieve my goals and be successful in life.

How did I overcome my fear and move out of my comfort zone?

a) First, I found out the reason why I had these uneasy tensed and nervous feelings. I felt silly for a grown person like me to have these kinds of reactions. After some soul searching, I realized that I was afraid of making a fool of myself in the event that I did not get the facts right. Also, I was afraid that my mind would go blank on me leaving me totally embarrassed.

b) To resolve my problem, I worked on memorizing the facts and paying particular attention to the salient points of the presentation. I also learnt from others who are better and more experienced than me. I would attend other people's presentations and take notes. Before any presentation, I get myself prepared and rehearsed my speech over and over again.

c) Last but not least, I met my fear head on by doing the presentation repetitively. I found that by concentrating on the task, I would not be so self-conscious.

Well, it works! But, every now and then, I have to remind myself as I tend to forget. I hope this will become part of me very soon.

How to Increase our Earning?

Since I am in sales now, I like to read Brian Tracy's newsletters as Brian Tracy is an expert in Sales, Time Management and Personal Development. He said that in order for us to sell more and earn more, we must see and think about ourselves as capable of becoming the highest-earning salespeople in our field. We have to develop a new self-concept for sales and income that is more consistent with what we really want to accomplish.

Here are the ways to increase our earning:
a) Increase the amount we believe we are capable of earning.
b) Raise our aspirations, set higher goals, and make detailed plans to achieve them.

Build Our Self-Concept Level of Income
Our self-concept determines our levels of performance and effectiveness in everything we do.

In sales, there are many mini-self-concepts that govern every activity of selling. They are:

a) self-concept for prospecting, for using the telephone, for cold calling, for making appointments, for qualifying, for presenting, for answering questions, for closing, for getting referrals, and for making follow-up sales, and
b) self-concept of our level of product knowledge, our personal management skills, our level of motivation and for the way that we relate to different types of customers.

In every case, we always perform in a manner consistent with our self-concept.
Hence, it is very important to work on having a high self-concept to enhance our performance.

If we have a high self-concept for making presentations or for closing sales, we feel comfortable and competent whenever we are doing them.

On the contrary, if we feel tense or uneasy in selling, it means that we have a low self-concept in that area. Since, we do not feel comfortable when we are engaged in that activity, we will probably avoid that activity as much as possible. Isn't that true?

Well, I suppose this is normal and natural for most people. The only question is, "What are we going to do about it?"

As recommended by Brian Tracy, we can Get Better Results immediately by doing the following:

1) First, set a goal today to become one of the highest earning people in our field.
2) Then, back our goal with action by committing to becoming very good in our field. For example, go for training and equip ourselves with more relevant skills.
3) See ourselves, imagine and visualize ourselves as if we are already very good at what we do. Create within ourselves the feeling of success and accomplishment.

To Your Sweet Success,
Peck Ling

Related Tags: fear, business, sales success, comfort zone, brian tracy

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