Personal and professional growth are tremendously accelerated by stepping outside your comfort zone and challenging your status quo. Typically these growth spurts are triggered by external drivers outside of your own control. When you graduated from high school for instance, although unsure of the future, you were forced to take the next steps with rewards you are probably still reaping today!
This and other great examples of unsurpassed growth may well be reflected upon by each of you and some of them may well have even been self-initiated. Now those are of course the hardest to master. Unless you are firmly behind your initial decision and continue despite uncomfortable situations and unfamiliar terrain, you must hold on to an unshakable belief and muster un-intimidated perseverance to get you from where you are to where you want to be. Only then will the pain of change eventually share its rewards.
One personal account to highlight the pain to pleasure principle is our own family move to Canada. Taking away everything we knew; leaving behind everyone we love aside from our own close family was a major shakeup to our emotional balance as well as hugely challenging to our own status quote. Many times did we consider to pack it all in and go home. But now, 6 years later, we are eternally grateful for sticking it out [although not often easy] as we have all gained massively from our ‘crazy’ move!
As an entrepreneur you have definitely chosen the path of challenging your professional status quo. Continuously pushing the boundaries of your comfort zone, you have to face up to your own personal gremlins and professional competency gaps.
Dreaded personality traits like the love to procrastinate or the lack of self-discipline. These of course will come to haunt you when you miss another client deadline.
Adding to that the frustrating competency gaps that seem to creep up at every turn. Be it the lack of understanding of your financial statements, the technology challenges that you’re supposed to take in your stride or the fear of having to sell ‘yourself’. Sometimes you may well feel that the stuff you don’t know seems to be exceeding the stuff that you do know. Or, that you simply don’t have what it takes!
And so this is what I want you to consider: Imagine yourself 5 years from now:
Either you will have given into the pain and taken a job that may deliver short-term relief but ultimately provides little room for growth or self-fulfillment.
Or you will have created the ultimate success with the ability to write your own paychecks! You will continue to challenge your personality traits and polish your professional skills. Because you remember that accelerated growth will only come as a result of persevering through the pain to finally reach the pleasure returns you so deserve.
Now I don’t know about you but I can say with confidence that challenging the status quo has proven to be the most rewarding way to live. So I dare you to join me in stretching the comfort zone a little bit further every day and persevere with your business until you reap the rewards that you should.
I see you in the ‘Grow Zone’!
Conny
