Operating only within your comfort zone leads to losing ground on all levels!

Recently I was running on my treadmill at home. I was alone at home with my two boys like many weekends. 

I ran 10 miles that day and was happy and content afterward for having finished my run. 

I thought to myself  “I put in the work and I am ready to tackle the day.”

Later that day I realized, yes indeed, I had put in work, but… did I grow doing my run? Or did I simply put in the time? 

I am obsessed with growth. Growth, as I wrote last week, is often a painful process. Discomfort gives the opportunity for learning about yourself, others, and how you relate to other people. 

I thought back. A couple of years ago I was running half marathons, marathons, ultra-marathons, etc.; running 10 miles hardly qualified as training at the time. 

I burnt out from the marathons eventually, too focused on pace and on racing instead of growth and enjoyment.

I took a break from the marathons, dialing back, and when I started running again about 6 months later, I focused on having fun and wanting to be able to run a half marathon comfortably. 

After running another marathon in 2018 I sustained a training injury that put me on the bench for a little while. After the healing process had finished and I came back to running, the most I ran for the following two years was about 20 miles in a week with 9-10 of those miles on the weekend. 

I quickly noticed that I would still be able to run a half marathon but it certainly would not be comfortable anymore. 

What happened?

It is really simple. My comfort zone contracted, it became smaller. Our comfort zone is usually about 60% of what we perceive as our current maximum capacity. By reducing my mileage, not only did my top-end performance suffer, my comfort zone dropped as well.

Essentially I was detraining myself. You might be thinking: “Michael what in the world does that have to do with me?”

What you do in your daily life follows similar rules

If you stop going outside of your house, you eventually become fearful to do so. If you are single and you stop dating, it might eventually lead to the situation where talking to a stranger and making yourself vulnerable becomes a nearly insurmountable hurdle. 

Being unwilling to learn new things in life because you perceive it as too challenging or fancy-schmancy shit will lead to you falling so far behind that you might have trouble keeping up in your workplace, personal life, etc. A look at the elderly no longer being able to handle technological advances clearly shows this. 

In general, our body and mind tend to go with what is comfortable. It takes effort to venture outside of comfort zones. 

It makes sense. In a past world where we had to fight daily for survival, having those crucial rest moments of comfort was important to stay ready for when we either had to fight or flee. 

In a current world that is surrounded by comforts like cars, AC, trains, planes, phones, computers, internet, cushy chairs, Netflix, Amazon, etc., we are no longer exposed to those same survival challenges. 

When was the last time you had to fight for your life, go mano a mano with your prey to provide food and I do not mean you fighting to get that two-pound steak into your pan? 

Challenging yourself regularly to the edge of your capabilities will lead to growth. I’m not saying that you have to do it every day, but you should do it frequently. 

I have been in the fitness field for over 20 years and from observing hundreds of clients, I have found the people who stay young mentally and physically are the ones that are willing to grow and who push their boundaries on a regular basis. 

Pushing boundaries can come in many forms.

It could be in the form of addressing anxiety on making cold-calls to strangers for work, getting the courage to meet a potential partner for coffee, or confronting the jerk at the office that is always a little too touchy-feely or finally reporting him/her to HR.

You could also sign up for a road race in 10 weeks and start training for it.

Challenging yourself can come in a myriad of ways. There are many ways to grow.

Don’t just seek out your strengths, but seek out your weaknesses and improve them, potentially even making them your strengths. 

You will start having more respect for yourself and so will your family because they see how you are growing. 

I moved to this country several years ago with very little. Throughout my journey, I had to face a lot of fears, poverty, and hardship. 

Through those struggles I have learned to know myself better, I have met other amazing individuals who sometimes for a short period of time and sometimes for a long time have become companions in my journey. They have been my teachers and my friends.

I learned from them how I want to be and how I don’t want to be. 

And then….

There is a trap

I am not kidding, there is a trap, and a big one. 

The trap is called complacency, being too content with the status quo. 

I have gotten complacent many times. I was the trainer who did not work regularly out but coached clients on what they needed to do. I was the guy video gaming 40 hours a week and eating M&Ms talking about past accomplishments. 

I was the employer who wanted to have a life outside of work and no longer actively worked on growing my business – which was not just for myself but also for the people working for me – all the while justifying it by telling myself I deserve a break too. 

Past accomplishments are not places to rest on but moments from which to pull strength when life gets hard. Like David Goggins puts it: Past accomplishments are cookies in your cookie jar. You can pull one out when you are being challenged in life and use it to give you the strength to persevere. 

Everything in life is a teaching moment 

You can learn from every moment in life. Every moment has a nugget for you that can help you expand who you are, grow your comfort zone, and your comfort threshold. 

That being said, the comfort zone is important: we use it to get new energy and drive. It only becomes a problem when we stay there. 

Task For Today

Venture out. Three days this week I want you to push yourself outside of your current comfort zone. 

Day 1: Pick a physically challenging activity and do 10-20% more than you have done before

Day 2: Pick something that challenges your mind, your knowledge, and learn something new

Day 3: Pick something that challenges you emotionally like a difficult conversation that needs to be had and do it. 

Yours, 

Michael