Challenge Your Comfort Zone

Recently I purchased a Peloton bike for my home gym to take my fitness routine to the next level. Often while riding with Tunde Oyeneyin, she challenges me to go beyond levels where I function with ease and comfort. When she pushes the class, she shouts, “Take the Challenge!”

Comfort zones are places of familiarity. It is a situation in which we feel comfortable avoiding anything new or difficult. The comfort zone is a behavioral state within which a person operates in a neutral condition using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk. A comfort zone is a type of mental conditioning that causes a person to create and operate within self-limiting boundaries.

Challenge is defined as a call or summons to engage in any contest as of skill or strength.  A challenge is something that by its nature or character serves as a call to battle, contest, or special effort.   When something is being challenged it serves to prove the genuineness, strength or authenticity of the thing that is being challenged.

I am reminded of how Jesus challenged the people he encountered.  Jesus often challenged people to go beyond the status quo, to do something that would go against the prevailing thought or custom of the day or go beyond their external and internal limitations. The challenges Jesus gave were designed to increase the individual’s character, physical ability, or spiritual integrity.  For example, Jesus challenged the rich young ruler to sell all that he had and give to the poor (Mark 10).  He challenged the man at the pool of Bethsaida to pick up his bed and walk (John 5).  When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well of Samaria, he challenged her to a life of authentic worship (John 4). 

In each case, Jesus’ challenge served to bring these men and women out of their comfort zones. Throughout life we too are called to leave our comfort zones to create new and different behaviors thus experiencing new and different responses. In fact, research reveals highly successful people routinely step outside of their comfort zone.

Every time I clip into my Peloton bike, workout with my trainer, practice yoga, run, walk, hike, or ride my bicycle I am challenged to go beyond my comfort zone to experience growth and progress. Because these skills are transposable, challenging comfort zones also include the way I pursue my dreams, goals, and visions. Whether my comfort zone is related to family, personal and professional development, finances, career, relationships, and spiritual vitality, I must be willing to push past levels of external and internal comfortability which require honest self-assessment.

If you’re desiring more success in your business, career, finances, relationships, physical, mental, and spiritual health, below are some things you can do to challenge your comfort zone:

·         Go beyond the status quo

·         Face your fears

·         Be willing to take risks

·         Eliminate self-limiting thoughts

·         Try new things

·         Volunteer for challenging roles and tasks

·         Be consistent

·         Push past places of comfortability                    

Remember a challenge is a battle, contest, summons an upward call that builds your skills, increases your strength, and improves your ability. We further our opportunities for growth when we heed the challenges of coaches, mentors, counselors, therapists, and spiritual directors. Their challenges are designed to make us better. It’s where real change and progress happens.

I look forward to seeing you on the other side of your comfort zone.

Dr. Toni