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QUESTION: Are you cozy in your comfort zone or actively trying to get out of it? Because in 2024, you need to break free from it to be unstoppable! 

Whether you’re religiously working your 9-5 or you’ve been doing the same thing for the last decade as an entrepreneur, it’s time to really get honest about where you’re at and where you want to go. 

In this episode, I’m breaking down the questions you need to ask yourself to determine if you’re stuck in your comfort zone or if you’re trying to leave it. PLUS, I’ll give you tangible tips on how to break free from the predictable and dig those big goals of yours in 2024! 

Let’s dive in – just by listening, you’re one step further on your journey toward personal growth!

First, Reflect On Your Current Situation

Prompts to help you reflect on this:

1. Are you content with your current professional situation, or do you feel a sense of restlessness and desire for change?
2. Do you find yourself settling for mediocrity, for “good enough,” and have stopped pushing yourself to achieve more in your current situation?
3. Are your days predictable and routine? How does that make you feel?

Stuck in Comfort Zone:

• If you are generally content, secure, and resistant to change or new challenges, you might be stuck in your comfort zone.

Leaving Comfort Zone:

• If you express a desire for growth, feel a bit unsatisfied or stagnant, and are open to exploring new opportunities, you may be actively trying to leave your comfort zone.

Next, What’s Your Reaction to Risk vs. Uncertainty?

Prompts to help you reflect on this:

1. How do you react when faced with uncertainty or the prospect of taking risks in your personal and professional life?
2. Do you typically fear change? Why or why not?
3. If you do, you should listen to episode 479, Navigating Change with Dr. Maya Shankar – she talks about the neuroscience behind our resistance to change! 

Stuck in Comfort Zone:

• If yes tends to avoid risks, fear failure, and prefer the predictability of your current situation, you may be stuck in their comfort zone.

Leaving Comfort Zone:

• If you embrace challenges, are willing to take calculated risks, and see failure as a learning opportunity, you are likely trying to leave their comfort zone.

In a 2013 Forbes article about taking risks, keynote speaker and bestselling author Margie Warrell gives us three questions to ask ourselves to help us overcome our tendency to play it safe and identify which risks are worth taking:

1. What would I do if I were being more courageous?  
2. How will inaction cost me one year from now if I do nothing?
3. Where is my fear of failure causing me to overestimate the size of risk, under-estimate myself and holding me back from taking risks that would serve me (my business etc)?

Lastly, Your Response to Opportunities

Prompts to reflect on this:

1. When presented with new opportunities or challenges, do you feel excited and motivated, or do you feel hesitant and resistant?
2. Do you regularly put yourself in situations where you will acquire new skills or knowledge, meet new people, and gain different perspectives and feedback?

• Stuck in Comfort Zone:
  • If you are resistant to change, avoid new opportunities, and prefer the familiar, you are probably  stuck in your comfort zone.
• Leaving Comfort Zone:
  • If you feel a sense of excitement or eagerness when presented with new possibilities, actively seek out challenges, and are open to growth, you are likely trying to leave their comfort zone.

These questions are designed to prompt self-reflection and provide you with insights into your mindset regarding your comfort zone. Keep in mind that these categories are not mutually exclusive, and you may exhibit characteristics of both at different times. The goal is to encourage awareness and help you identify where you currently stand in relation to your comfort zone.

What Can We Do About It?

Here are 5 things you can do if you’re stuck in your comfort zone OR you’re trying to leave it:

1. Visualize Your Success:

One of the things that I want every single person, I want you, my reader, to do is to visualize your success, not someone else’s success, not the shiny things you see on social media, not the things your parents told you made you successful. I want for you to really think: what is success for you?

Not what does it look like, but what does it feel like? How do you know you’re being successful? Finish the sentence, I know I’m being successful when? That needs to be your guiding light as you move through this year.

A couple of years ago, I interviewed neuroscientist Dr. Tara Stewart about the proven methods for visualizing and manifesting the life and business you want. Check it out now! 

2. Set New Goals:

How can you define new and challenging goals? Like how can you stretch yourself?

I’m actually reading a book right now and I’m learning a lot about how to find the balance between peace and contentedness with goal setting and achievement. What’s so powerful about goal setting is that you’re moving towards something; forward is forward, even if it feels like you’re moving inch by inch!

I break down this goal-setting process in episode 401: Sick of the Same Goal Setting Strategies? This Is For You.

3. Learn Continuously:

I will always be a student of life. This is life school, and I’m in it, and I want to be in it, and I always want to be learning something new. I am hungry to learn. And so what are some new skills that you could learn? Or what is some new knowledge you could acquire?

Sometimes I get my best ideas when I’m doing something so unrelated to my work or my business. And so what is something you wanna do? Maybe you can attend a workshop. Maybe you can take an online course. Maybe you can read a book. Maybe you can listen to a podcast. What is something that you want to learn? What is a new skill that you wanna hone?

Check out jennakutcher.com/business to see if there are any courses on topics you’ve been thinking about learning!

4. Network and Seek Feedback:

Just like this episode was inspired by a mastermind, how can you connect with new people both personally and professionally? How can you put yourself in the position of starting to understand and engage with other human beings? How can you get feedback from other people? How can you share ideas? How can you encourage one another?

Getting yourself in spaces with other people who are in the same position as you, either maybe stuck or actively leaving, being in those melting pot rooms where you are inspired by seeing other people’s action is so invaluable and it’s something I really want for you.

5. Celebrate Small Wins:

How can you acknowledge and celebrate your achievements? How can you recognize yourself for showing up, doing the things you didn’t think you could do, doing the things you were scared of? What does that look like?

When you start to see yourself showing up and actively moving towards something new, something better, something exciting, it changes your identity. It changes the way you view yourself. It changes your experience of life.

This is why tracking those goals and celebrating your wins is helpful’ so that on those days when you feel like you’re not making any progress, you have evidence that that is not true, that you are moving in a new direction and it is beautiful and your life is unfolding just as it should right before your eyes!

Final Thoughts

I’m proud of you for listening to this episode today – I know this can be an uncomfortable topic and just by clicking play, you’ve taken the first step to stepping outside your comfort zone!

Take it step by step when it comes to expanding your comfort zone instead of making big changes all at once. By consistently pushing your boundaries, you create a space for personal growth and development. It’s about embracing discomfort as a sign that you’re on the right path toward positive change.

As you navigate this journey, celebrate the small victories along the way – they’re the building blocks of a more fulfilling and enriched life. So, take it one step at a time, stay committed, and don’t shy away from the challenges that come your way!

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