How to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

When you’re in your comfort zone, things are generally easy, or at least easier than if you ventured outside of this comfort zone. However, although easy work might sound like a good thing, this will usually end in becoming boring work, and that’s certainly not good – we all need to be challenged to keep our brains active and to keep the fun and excitement in our lives. However, despite this, many of us would rather remain in our comfort zones than move beyond them and try something new. After all, the unknown is frightening, and something could go wrong. However, you must remember that there is also a good chance – if you are careful and plan accordingly – that things will also go right, and your life will be improved greatly. 

With that in mind, here are some of the best ways to start getting out of your comfort zone so you can make some exciting and positive changes to your life. It will be hard to get started, but once you do, you’ll wonder why it’s taken you so long. Read on to find out more. 

Make Changes to Your Daily Routine 

One of the reasons we get caught up in a comfort zone is routine. By doing the same thing each day, from eating the same breakfast to taking the same route to the office to doing the same kind of work and more, you will fall into a rhythm that allows you to exist quite happily without the need to think about anything. 

Although this might sound ideal, what it really means is that you will be living your life on autopilot, unable and unwilling to do anything that takes you away from the track you are on, even if that thing would be lots of fun, entertaining, or beneficial to your career, your health, or your overall future. 

In order to help you take the first few steps out of your comfort zone, no matter how tentative and small they might be, try changing your daily routine. This does not have to be a big change; you might choose to start your day with tea instead of coffee or take a different route to work or prepare your dinner in advance, giving you time for a hobby, for example. Big or small, this change will lead to others, and then even more, and eventually, your routine will no longer be holding you back. Not only will you have stepped out of your comfort zone and be willing to adapt, but you’ll have potentially found new and enjoyable things to do with your life. 

Delegate 

Sometimes one of the (potentially many) reasons why someone might not be happy to step out of their comfort zone is that, although they may well want to try new things, they just don’t have the time to do so, and they don’t want to add any more to their already busy schedule (or a quiet schedule that feels comfortable, of course). However, as we know, it’s crucial to get away from that comfort zone when you can, even if you go back into it regularly to recharge or reassess. With that in mind, delegation can be an excellent way to take a step forward and try new things. 

When you delegate work or other responsibilities, you will automatically have more time to do the things you want to do that are outside of your usual remit or routine. Delegation is something that some people find easy; they simply hand a list of tasks to other people, hopefully taking those people’s particular skills and talents into account, and then enjoy the end result of a job well done. For some, however, delegation is difficult. They don’t like relinquishing control and would rather do the work themselves, even if it’s detrimental to their health or progress in their career or life. 

Learning how to delegate and being able to let go means you have much more chance of trying new things and new experiences, making your life a much more well-rounded and fulfilling one. 

Learn Something New 

No one knows everything; it’s just impossible. That might sound negative, and could perhaps suggest that there is no point in trying to learn anything as you’ll never get to the end of your studies, but the fact is quite the opposite; when you can’t know everything, it means there is always going to be something new to learn. Look at it in this way, and you’ll see that taking on the challenge to learn something new will take you easily out of your comfort zone and might even help you move forward in other ways too. 

The old wisdom was that you should try to learn something new every day, but this is not easy and can become tiresome when you’re always looking for something else to find out about. Therefore, it’s often better to set yourself longer-term challenges when it comes to learning. What topics are you particularly interested in? What have you always wanted to know more about? Could it be that there is a university degree or some other course, with or without certification, to give you that knowledge? It might not be anything that you intend to take any further, and it might not benefit you in terms of your career, but it will benefit you when you consider that you’ll be doing something new and different. 

Alternatively, you might feel that if you are going to study, it should be for something that will help with your future, whether you want to move forward in your current career or you want to find an entirely new one. If you wanted to become an Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner, for example, you would need the specific qualifications to do it. Push yourself out of your comfort zone by taking up the challenge, and you’ll find this positively benefits you in all areas of your life. 

Volunteer 

Perhaps you are perfectly happy in your current career, and you don’t want to go back to school to learn anything new, yet you know you must step outside of your comfort zone if you’re going to live your life rather than just exist within it. What can you do? There is no point in doing anything that isn’t going to make you happy, and switching careers or taking on new challenges that you know aren’t right for you could do more harm than good. 

With that in mind, another option that won’t disrupt your current position but that will enable you to do more and even help others, which is always a bonus, is to volunteer. Whether you help out at your local church, organize local litter-picking events, feed the homeless at a shelter, or give blood – among the very many other volunteering opportunities that you can join in with or create – you’ll quickly be able to step outside of your comfort zone, little by little. 

If you start small, just by helping every now and then, you can gradually increase how much you do over time if you feel this is the right thing. No matter what, though, no matter how much or little you do, it is all going to make a huge difference to the lives of those you are helping, and that’s important to remember. 

It might be hard to make the initial contact you need to get started with your volunteering duties or ideas, but this is all part of getting out of your comfort zone, and once it’s done, you’ll have more skills and a great sense of achievement. 

Implement Physical Change 

They say that positive physical change will offer you positive mental change, and therefore if you want to not only step outside of your comfort zone but also ensure you have a healthy mind and body at the same time, implementing certain physical changes is crucial. 

You’ll already know that learning new things and trying new things are both good in this regard. If you feel that getting fitter, perhaps by losing weight or building muscle, is something that would benefit you, you can incorporate this into your ideas about leaving your comfort zone. Taking a new fitness class or taking up a new physical hobby would tick many of the boxes we have mentioned. 

This can be one of the easiest ways to at least begin coming out of your comfort zone, but because it can have some dramatic effects on the way you look and the way you feel, the results are usually big ones. This will spur you on to doing more things because you know you are capable, and you know they are benefitting you. Sometimes it takes one small change to spark the understanding of just how positive stepping out of your comfort zone can really be. 

Face Your Fears 

A good reason – in relative terms, at least – for sticking with your tried and tested comfort zone is fear. There are a lot of unknowns out there, beyond the boundaries of your knowledge and experience, and tackling them is a scary prospect. Staying with what you know, even if you are aware that you’re not helping yourself in a variety of ways, means that you can live without fear getting in the way. 

However, fear can be a good thing. It drives us forward, makes things exciting, and can even cause us to make important changes in our own lives and others. Of course, fear is only positive if you don’t let it take over your life. When this happens, you will freeze in place, and your comfort zone, which might be small already, will shrink even more. In order for this not to happen, you need to face your fears. 

What is it that is truly holding you back from doing new things and making positive changes in your life? Spend some time determining this and look at it from all angles – it’s crucial to understand your fear if you feel that it is holding you back. Once you are aware of this, you can implement measures to face your fear, and once you do, the majority of the time you’ll find that it wasn’t as bad as you initially thought. Plus, you will be out of your comfort zone, having spoken to someone new, signed up for a course, or made a decision about your career, for example. 

Show Others 

Doing new things for yourself is important, and you’re the only one who can determine what you should be doing and for what reason. Trying to please others is a good way to become disappointed and make mistakes, and although it might get you out of your comfort zone, it won’t keep you outside it because you’ll never really be committed to whatever it is you’re doing. This is why you need to work out your own ideas and move in the direction that you want to go in. 

However, that’s not to say that you should keep your plans a secret. In fact, when it comes to helping you get out of your comfort zone, the truth is that telling other people about what you’re doing or planning to do is hugely helpful. This will give you some accountability and ensure that you continue through with your ideas (assuming they are good ones – you are, of course, well within your rights to change your mind if it makes sense to), since people will be aware of what you are doing and will expect some form of update. 

Whatever it is you want to do, from starting an art class to trying a new recipe to making a video for YouTube or even switching careers and starting from scratch, if you let others know about it, you’re much more likely to do it, and thus you will be more likely to step outside of your comfort zone. 

Choosing who to tell is very important. You might only trust a select few individuals (or perhaps just one person), or you might feel comfortable in announcing your plans to the world. Only you will know, and if that means not telling anyone at all and discovering other ways to get out of your comfort zone, that’s fine too.