Growth Only Comes Out of Your Comfort Zone

[Music]

it’s 95 degrees in aurora zimbabwe and

i’m 9 years old

outside my window i can hear the ice

cream truck rolling down my street

i race into the kitchen to ask my mom

for a dollar my hand is out my toe is

tapping

and i can almost taste that sweet tangy

ninja turtle ice cream on the tip of my

tongue

you see as the only boy of my mother’s

five children

i was practically guaranteed special

treatment she would look at my

cute little face and melt every time but

not today

today she says no oh nonchalant as if

i was not the prince charming of her

parenting dreams

exact words are kuda you were naughty

this morning

so this week you get no ice cream money

from me

that was the first time i could remember

feeling the shock

of being outside of my comfort zone my

mother’s voice saying no to me was

unfamiliar territory the next thing i

know

i’m in even more unfamiliar territory i

start asking myself

what do i need to do to make my ice

cream dreams come true

the answer comes to me faster than a kid

eating an ice cream cone on a hot summer

day

i had to find a way to make my own money

so later that day i noticed that my

neighbor’s windows were looking

pretty dirty so i grabbed a bucket my

mother’s cleaning supplies

and i head over to a house and knocked

on a door three minutes later

i closed my first deal for my window

cleaning business

i’d never watched a window before in my

life so to say that this was unfamiliar

territory

is an understatement in those moments

before i’d become that nine-year-old

business owner

i thought that the job was going to be a

breeze i thought it would take about

maybe

30 minutes boy was i wrong

five minutes in i’m saying to myself man

what were you thinking

all i wanted to do was go back home

lay on the couch and watch tv that was

my comfort zone

but i knew if i didn’t follow through

my situation would never change so i

kept

pushing forward and three painful hours

later

i earned my first five dollars in

business

the next day when the ice cream truck

came by

i ran into my room i grabbed my wallet

and i bought that ninja turtle ice cream

with my own money

no more asking mom now i’m a big boy now

so you see

in one day by stepping outside of my

comfort zone

i was able to experience growth

like it or not we all have comfort zones

those safe spaces where our behaviors

fit

a pattern that minimizes stress

and risk comfort zones provide a

sense of familiarity mental security and

saturnity

it is that comfortable place where your

brain releases

feel good chemicals dopamine and

serotonin

you see our brain actually loves being

in this comfortable place because

it gets to be an autopilot in other

words

your brain wants to lounge around on a

metaphorical hammock all day i mean

who wouldn’t want to do that you you

wouldn’t want to do that

that’s because staying in your comfort

zone is dangerous for your own personal

growth

as human beings if we’re not growing

we’re dying

so it is essential that we do things

every single day

that lead to growth and you can only

experience growth

by taking a risk and stepping outside of

your comfort zone

take a baby for example the only way

that a baby can learn how to walk

is by taking a risk and stepping outside

its comfort zone

first by crawling standing

falling standing again and then finally

taking those

precious first steps and learns how to

walk

it is through this repetitive

risk-taking process

that the baby is able to learn a new

skill

i call this risk-taking process

instinctive risk taking

because your brain is actually okay with

you taking a risk because it knows that

this new skill that you’re going to

learn

will actually enhance your chances of

survival which is different

from the risk that i took when i started

my window cleaning business

that wasn’t instinctive it was conscious

i had to willingly

go against the will of my brain to do

something that was uncomfortable

conscious risk taking does require a

mindset

shift especially if you’re going to

consistently grow and achieve amazing

results

in his book living with a seal jesse

itzla offers a firsthand account of the

mindset shift

he experienced when former navy seal

david goggins

moved into jesse’s house for a month

david has mastered the power of his mind

through conscious risk-taking

in 2010 he ran a 24-hour ultra-marathon

by himself when everybody else was

running in relay teams

later he broke the guinness book of

world records by completing

4030 pull-ups in 17 hours

david knows that your brain will tell

your body to give up

when you’ve only reached 40 of your

effort you see

one move past that 40 zone

and you’re outside of your comfort zone

a place your brain does not want to go

yet there’s still sixty percent of

effort left in you

that sixty percent of achievement that

you could have pushed through

sixty percent of growth and greater

results that you could have

enjoyed at any given time we’re all

inclined to stay within that 40

comfort zone we don’t push through

because

our brain is wired more to survive

than it is to thrive so if we don’t

consciously train

ourselves to go that extra mile

we will default to safety to our comfort

zone

and trust me you don’t want to live your

entire life

in your comfort zone talk about a boring

life that’s stagnant with no adventure

no excitement

and no growth author neil walsh said it

best when he said

life begins at the end of your comfort

zone

so the question is how do we consciously

train ourselves

to do things that are outside of our

comfort zone

and tap into that 60 percent growth zone

how do we shift our mindset

from one that’s more focused to

surviving to one that’s more focused to

thriving

these are questions that i struggled

with for a very long time

but luckily i was able to find an answer

i discovered a framework that helps you

achieve growth

by consistently stepping outside of your

comfort zone

i call this method the spear method

and i just published a book about it for

centuries

the spear has been the go-to tool that

has helped mankind

not only survive but also thrive

ancient communities relied on the spear

for protection during warfare

surviving and to bring food to the table

when they went hunting

thriving what i like about the spear is

its simplicity in design yet extreme

efficacy

the same is true the spear method it’s

simple

yet effective so the spear in the spear

method stands for number one

s seek your purpose having clarity on

your purpose will help you win the

fight with your brain when you’re

trained when when you’re trying to

step outside of that 40 comfort zone

it’s not

easy taking a conscious risk so it is

essential

that in those moments you have clarity

on your why

because it will help you push forward

before that foot beyond that 40 percent

barrier

number two plan as the old adage goes

failing to plan is planning to fail

so we already know that our brain is

going to put up a fight with us

when we attempt to go past that 40

percent zone

so having a plan in place will help you

in those moments of truth

and this will help reduce anxiety while

increasing your chances of success

planning is the equivalent of sharpening

your spearhead

so that you can easily penetrate through

that barrier

number three e execute

it doesn’t help for you to create a plan

but actually never execute the plan so

like in my

case if i hadn’t cleaned the windows i

wouldn’t have achieved my goals

i like to say the three most important

days in life

are the day you’re born the day you find

out

why and each day you act on your why

taking action is the thrust you give

your spear when you launch it

the more consistent action you take the

more velocity

and force your spear has number four

achieve

the first and most important achievement

is that very first step you take

when you’re stepping outside of your

comfort zone because it is in that

moment that you start growing last but

not least

are repeat this guys

this is the eighth wonder right here

like how compound interest works in

finance

consistent action will compound over

time

and this will result in exponential

growth

make it a habit to take a conscious risk

every single day

and do something that takes you outside

your comfort zone on a daily basis

and i’m not talking about you know

taking a conscious risk of having to

climb

mount everest i mean well it depends on

who you are but

more seriously it could be as simple as

taking a cold shower in the morning

or running an extra mile at the end of

your workout the key thing though is

that

every single day you’re getting outside

of your comfort zone

by consistently stepping outside of your

comfort zone you’ll be able to build

that resilience muscle

and the stronger that muscle gets the

more goals you’re able to achieve

and the more growth you’ll be able to

experience during that time

remember repetition is the mother of

mastery i was able to experience

like tremendous growth by practicing the

spear method

since that time when i started my window

cleaning business

i’ve been able to start six other

businesses

i studied a non-profit i wrote a book

and you know today i’m now standing on

stages that were once

as notorious big would like to say all a

dream

right now i’m working on a goal that

seemed totally impossible

i mean it’s keeping me squarely right in

that 60

growth zone and the goal is how do i

provide

1 million meals to people in need in the

next two years

to tackle this goal i’ve co-founded a

cookie company called unbelievable

and we donate a meal for every cookie

that we sell so one cookie equals one

meal

like what i did when i started my window

cleaning business i’ve embraced this

challenge

because i know that growth and success

only happen outside of your comfort zone

but this growth isn’t just for me guys

what’s your impossible

that thing that you thought you could

never do what if that impossible dream

is inside your 60 percent untapped

growth zone potential

like roger bannister when he broke the

four minute mile

he had to tap into that sixty percent

growth zone

and he achieved something that was

deemed impossible

if you’ve ever learned to ride a bicycle

or

learnt a new language or ran a marathon

then you’ve been in that growth zone

before

what i want to challenge you today is to

relentlessly go

for your impossible dreams because

impossible

is an illusion of your comfort zone

thank you

you