When it comes to self-improvement, whether you’re talking money or relationships, it can sometimes help to step out of your comfort zone on occasion. If you always live in your comfort zone, you aren’t growing. Sometimes, you have to stretch in order to grow, and stepping outside your comfort zone can help you do that.
Of course, the point is to stretch, not become overwhelmed. Here are a few tips for stepping outside your comfort zone in a way that helps you grow and progress:
Take a Small Step
You don’t need to leap outside your comfort zone. Instead, start with a small step. If you aren’t comfortable meeting new people, you can start by approaching someone with a smile and extending your hand. It’s difficult for me to connect with people I don’t know, so sometimes I force myself to smile and say hi to someone new. In many cases, simply saying hi can be a good first step toward getting more comfortable with other people.
Take small steps in other ways, too. If you are concerned about growing your wealth through investing, you can take a small step outside your comfort zone by starting with $50 and an index fund. You don’t have to start investing by taking a huge leap to invest a large amount of capital in a single stock. That’s a risk that many people wouldn’t be comfortable with.
Start small, and eventually your comfort zone will shift. When that happens, you can take another small step, outside your new comfort zone, and in that way keep moving forward.
Consider a Different Viewpoint
Many of us are comfortable with our current views. However, if you constantly look only for views and ideas that you are comfortable with, you run the risk of losing out to bias. While there’s no way to completely avoid bias, the reality is that living in a comfortable bubble means that you don’t always make the best decisions, since you don’t have sufficient information to make a reasoned decision.
Instead, consider a different viewpoint. It might make you uncomfortable to learn about a budgeting technique different from what you’re used to, or you might not like the implications that come when you read something that challenges what you think is true. However, getting outside your comfort zone, even inside your head, can help you gain new information. You might even find that this new information leads to a better way of doing things in your life.
You don’t always have to accept other views, or agree with them, but entertaining them can help you get more — and better — information that can improve your life.
Learn Something New
It’s not always easy to learn something new. However, when you step out of your comfort zone to read a different book, study another language, listen to a different type of music, or grasp a scientific concept, you can grow as a person, and become more knowledgeable. We like to be surrounded by the old, but if you take a step out of your comfort zone to learn something new, you’ll grow as person and your life will be enriched.
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