Life is full of opportunities to step outside your comfort zone, but grabbing hold of them can be difficult. Sometimes the problem is not being aware of reasons to do so. After all, if the feeling of comfort signifies our most basic needs are being met, why should we seek to abandon it? Remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs triangle?

For many of us, it’s the realization that something needs to change that acts as a powerful incentive to leave our comfort zone. What isn’t always clear is what it takes to come to that realization. The will to improve, the necessity to change, the need for better circumstances. It takes this realization to initiate the transformation to affect change.

In my last article I wrote in-depth at developing a growth mindset. I referenced the shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. It’s this shift that is crucial to the process of leaving your comfort zone. It’s understanding that opportunities are all around us and that when we think in the way that many entrepreneurs do, it’s making the most of those opportunities when they present themselves.

Life isn’t exactly predictable and we all seem to get our share of adversity. How we are able to effectively deal with the adversity presented to us is often a decent indicator of how we will handle getting out of our comfort zone. We typically call this resilience. The term ‘antifragile’ was coined by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and refers to being able to learn and grow from the adversity we experience in our lives. Resilient people bounce back, but it’s those that are antifragile that don’t end up in the panic zone (or what I call the danger zone).

Deciding to step outside your comfort zone is difficult, but when you do, it is when you enter the growth zone. Tony Robbins said, “All growth starts at the end of your comfort zone.” Just like a seed planted in the spring, your growth needs to be watered, nurtured and provided with sunlight. In the growth zone, you can find your purpose, finally live the dreams you never thought you would, create a new vision of the future and set goals to reach that vision.

Something to stay on top of — growth doesn’t necessarily come from reaching goals; it’s more about the journey with the learning experiences along the way. A word to the wise though, the growth zone can easily become your new comfort zone, so keep moving and plan for what’s next. If you find yourself becoming complacent, take a step back and continue your journey toward continued growth.

After more than a decade, Landscape Ontario will be migrating all member data to a new system called Wicket. Wicket will allow us to connect best-in-class software like MailChimp for email marketing, Fusebill for our billing system, Pipedrive for our sales pipeline CRM, and Expo FP for our trade show floor plan software.

These systems (some of which are already up and running) will be in place in time for this year’s membership dues renewal. Things may look a little different but it’s our plan to make sure that renewing your membership with Landscape Ontario is an easy and pleasant experience.

Membership dues will renew on Sept. 1 this year, so be on the lookout for emails coming your way. We’re all hard at work being out of our comfort zone as we implement all of these new software systems.

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