Need to reach Professional Heights? Escape Your Comfort Zone

The first time I heard about “Escaping your Comfort Zone”, was four years back while I was in my first job and listening to our newly selected CIO. Someone in the crowd had just asked him about one success mantra which got him to this role.

Sitting there in the auditorium, I couldn’t understand why someone would give up something which he or she aces in to go after a goal that does not play to their strengths. At that point in my career, it was too early for me to make sense of those words of wisdom. I was used to seeing people around me hold onto their comfort zone with all their might.


The aggression with which many defended their projects and teams draw similarities the ferocity of hunting animals marking their territory. In organizations which thrive on IT Operations & Maintenance, knowing the levers & gears of the system is like a pirate possessing a map to the treasure chest.

Now four years later, I can finally understand the importance of letting go of your comfort zone. Five months back, I had been handed over the reins of a project with a 300+ workforce and a negligible Return on Investment (ROI). After months of long work hours, fire-fighting mode of operations, shuttling between cities & hotel rooms, we had brought the project to stability. Not just that we brought it to stability, but we drastically improved the ROI by 50%.

But once we had reached a state of stability, sluggishness set it. From a state of adrenaline pumping rush, we had slid down to a state of predictability & repeatability. Without even answering the phone we knew what had gone wrong where & even knew the solution to it. There was no challenge left, we could do our work with our eyes closed & still ace at it. But more than anything, we stopped learning.

While holding onto our precious comfort zone and playing to our strengths which we perfected over time, we often lose an opportunity to learn or experience something new. In spite of all the framed motivational posters up on the wall, way too often, we fail to see the learning opportunity each new challenge carries. We have been accustomed to think that the comfort zone we have reached is a reward for all the effort we have put in to gain the knowledge & strengths.

Slowly, but surely, our comfort zone becomes our brain’s retirement home. Remember during school days how we forgot all what we learnt by the time we returned from vacation. Our job’s comfort zone is a vacation where our brain goes into retirement, but unlike in school here one cannot have a long learning curve. To stay ahead of the curve it is important to keep oneself challenged always & learn something new.
Everybody have different ways to keep a check on their career. Mine is to keep checking what am I learning new in the job I am performing. It needn’t be always something quantifiable or good enough on your resume. It could be a social skill or a communication style, but as long as it enriches your career, you are headed in the right direction.

Get out of your comfort zone and get learning – That’s probably the biggest aspect that may take you to professional heights!

Source:Internet

Read more...

10 Powerful Self Motivation Rules!!

Image by stilllearninghowtofly - W W Tribe Psychiatrist via Flickr

Self motivation is the only way for you to get out of your current situation that you may not like. You need to have the inner drive to keep your momentum in achieving your goals in life. Without self motivation, nothing else matters. You can hire the most expensive motivator to tell you all the things you already know.

But, if you fail to realize that there is no one else except you who can change your life, then you practically throw your money down the drain by going from one seminar to another in the hope that you can change your life. What matters most is your own action. You need to create and develop your own self motivation to bring you the energy and enthusiasm to pursue the dreams of your life...

Self motivation is the only way for you to get out of your current situation that you may not like. You need to have the inner drive to keep your momentum in achieving your goals in life. Without self motivation, nothing else matters. You can hire the most expensive motivator to tell you all the things you already know. But, if you fail to realize that there is no one else except you who can change your life, then you practically throw your money down the drain by going from one seminar to another in the hope that you can change your life. What matters most is your own action. You need to create and develop your own self motivation to bring you the energy and enthusiasm to pursue the dreams of your life.

You need some kind of motivational drive in anything you do. At work, you may need your colleague or boss to motivate you to accomplish your task. At home, you may need your family member to share some motivational thoughts to keep you energetic in your pursuit of your dreams. They can sit with you all day trying to keep you motivated. Again, all these will be meaningless when you yourself fail to acknowledge that you need more lasting drive to really keep your enthusiasm, that is, your self motivation. This is the quality that will separate you from the rest of the people.

Most of you may be thinking that this is going to be a very daunting task as you do not have the slightest idea of how you are going to go about this. You will be surprised as how easy this can really be done. Here are the 10 things that you need to follow:

1. Do not worry if you make mistakes. Making mistakes is one way we can learn and improve in our life. There is no one that has never made any mistake. The most important thing here is you realize that you have made mistakes and do not repeat the same mistakes again. You learn more from mistakes you have made than any other way.

2. Feel happy about your life. Happiness generates more positive energy within you. This energy is important to keep you more optimistic and enthusiastic about your life. Happy people are always motivated to accomplish something in their life.

3. Get out of your comfort zone. You need to learn to get into unfamiliar surroundings to explore better opportunities. Do not just stick around with the same people, same known places, skills or work. Explore new things that will enhance your ability to achieve your goals and keep you stay motivated.

4. Think the unthinkable. Nothing will stop you from thinking of goals you want to achieve. You have to dream high in order to set high goals. Everything starts with a dream. Do not limit yourself in your goals and dreams.

5. Read and listen to inspirational materials. You have to start spending time reading motivational books and listening to inspirational tapes. But, you must also implement what you learn from your reading and listening. New things you learn from these exercises will give you excitement and energy to work harder toward achieving your goals.

6. Resolve problems instead of running away. Your ride to success destination will not be smooth all the time. You will face difficulties. Do not quit when you experience predicaments in your quest to achieve your dreams. Frustrations and setbacks naturally form as parts of your success venture.

7. Appreciate every moment of your life. Think of what your life really is as of now. Appreciate every moment you have currently. Thinking about the past or day dreaming about the future will not bring you anywhere. Appreciating your current conditions makes you feel much better and realize the need to move forward to achieve your goals.

8. Finish what you start. Once you have started something, finish it. Never leave what you do halfway regardless of the end result. This will train you to accomplish something out of things that you do.

9. Face challenges one at a time. Challenges come to us almost all the time. Take up one challenge at a time. Do not try to accumulate and face them at one go. As the challenges accumulate, you will only feel less motivated to face them and finally unable to complete anything.

10. Care less about what people say. You may hear a lot of bad things people say about you. Sometimes those bad comments may come from somebody close to you. As long as you fully know what you are doing to achieve your goals, you can let those comments fall into deaf ears. Thinking too much about what people say will only make you weaker and loose focus on your effort.

Of course, this list does not just stop here. To instill and develop your self motivation, there are more ways you can do. But, if you can really comprehend and take the appropriate actions just based on these 10 things, you will definitely see the results.

Read more...