As I dive deeper into this world of personal growth and entrepreneurship there is a lot of talk of stepping outside your comfort zone in order to gain success and I fully agree. But how far is too far? It is good to expand yourself and push the boundaries of what you think you can accomplish but at what costs. There is a fine line between comfort zone and authentic self.
What I mean by this is as you are stretching and taking on new challenges be mindful that you are being true to who you are. It will do you no good to do things that are not in line with you at your core. If you do not have that deep a level of true understanding of yourself (more on this in a future post) take the Clifton Strengths Assessment, get the list of your full 34 traits and I can guide you through a personalized explanation of how they interact and what they actually mean depending on your unique order. Once you have a grasp of that then you will have a better idea of what direction to proceed. For example, if I feel like I need to get out of my comfort zone because I read that being a good leader means I should schedule weekly team meetings to discuss sales numbers but analytics makes me uncomfortable due to the fact that Analytical is low on my Strengths, by doing so I would not be growing in a direction that is true to who I am and my team would pick up on how inauthentic I would be coming across. This would most likely create a disconnect with us and be a very ineffective way to motivate them.
This blog, however, is a perfect illustration of going out of my comfort zone but staying authentic to who I am. Communication is high in my Strengths order so an appropriate way for me to push my boundaries is to expand my audience instead of relying on solely on my inner circle to share my thoughts and challenge myself to go beyond just posting on social media but find a new platform for my voice. When I am being myself, my team feels more of a connection and gets motivated by my energy rather than my breakdown of numbers.
When we are authentic we are believable and more trustworthy therefore more successful. One of the fastest ways to lose people’s, including your own, confidence in you is by trying to be someone you are not especially when seeking out some type of achievement. Therefore it does you no good to go outside of your comfort zone when it takes you to a place you do not belong. One of the important lessons of knowing your Strengths is the realization that we are all different on so many levels and not only is it ok but it is natural for us to all go about things in our own ways, not anyone else’s. So as you move forward with self-growth use discernment when you come across other people’s opinions of how that should look, pick up and use what is applicable for yourself and leave the rest for others to benefit from. Your team will thank you, you will feel so much better and everyone will be less stressed and more productive.
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