Moving out of your comfort zone

[Applause]

[Music]

hey

[Music]

hey

the first tedx talk i listened to was

back in 2016.

i was a freshman at university um

sitting in an english class

i don’t remember the exact content of

that talk unfortunately

it was quite a while ago but what i do

remember

is how that talk and the other tedx

talks i’ve listened to since then

made me feel there was something about

these talks that

really connected with me i like how they

included stories of other people and how

those stories contained

important messages and ideas that were

worth spreading

i like how those stories made me feel so

inspired and

hopeful for someone with a pretty short

attention span i mean i have to scroll

through instagram every 10 minutes just

to get through a lecture

which i’m not proud of and i’m working

on but i could listen to an

entire tedx talk without being

distracted

i just was so captivated by the speakers

and it was at that point i knew that i

was falling in love with the ted

community

i also happen to have this crazy thought

of how it would feel like

if i could stand on a tedx platform one

day and deliver my ideas to an audience

hopefully inspiring them just like the

way i thought

i felt i thought it was a pretty

far-fetched idea though because well

for starters i’m dead scared of public

speaking

but anyway what i want to talk about

with you today

is why am i here on a platform

of doing something i’m so afraid of when

i could easily be at home on a couch

eating donuts which is my ultimate

comfort zone

why am i trying so hard to push myself

out of my comfort zone and

into this territory that i like but that

i’m also uncomfortable with

we like our comfort zones because they

make us feel comfortable

safe and you know they’re easy we know

our way around so there’s really nothing

much to be afraid of

but the thing with comfort zones is that

they tend to confine you to this small

space

out of which you don’t want to leave you

don’t want to test yourself you don’t

want to challenge yourself

you want to put yourself out there into

a new environment that you have no idea

how it’ll turn out but you know you want

to do it but

you’re just afraid and it’s very hard to

grow as a person

when you are confined to such a

comfortable space

well if moving out of your comfort zone

is really so good for your personal

development

then why are we reluctant to do it

and that is because we are afraid

moving out of your comfort zone can be

scary i mean imagine yourself

you know wanting to do that first small

business taking a small business

initiative or

maybe trying out a new sport or even a

new skill like public speaking

they’re scary it’s it’s a new

environment and it’s likely that you

could

feel uncomfortable but i’m here to tell

you

that even with that fear the discomfort

and

you know the dread pushing yourself out

there

out of your comfort zone and doing

something you love even if you’re so

afraid of it it’s probably one of the

best things you can do to yourself

in fact looking back at yourself having

moved out of your comfort zone

might make you feel so grateful for the

rest of your life

so today i want to share with you three

tips

that i hope will help you move out of

your comfort zone

and discover new things about yourself

and grow

so around the time when i had discovered

that i really liked the ted community

i also met with this new opportunity

which was so timely and perfect

there i was sitting on a netball court

scrolling through my email and then i

come across this one email

which was recruiting university students

to be part

of an organizing team for a tedx event

and i was just so happy because i mean i

had just come into terms with how much

i was passionate about this initiative

and

i mean i was so happy and i had to apply

to be part of this right

but my inner voice just started ranting

about how this

opportunity was just so out of my

comfort zone

which it was because i had never been

par

organized an event of such a large scale

and i did not know how these tedx events

worked

so i was filled with fear and doubt

i wanted to make the move but it was

just too big of a move

out of my comfort zone but luckily for

me that day

i happen to be a little bit bolder than

the fears that were holding me back

maybe it was the dopamine rush after a

netball game i don’t know

but i actually ended up applying so that

brings me

to tip one of moving out of your comfort

zone

make a move make a move even a tiny

little move that would help you

get closer to what you want to do and it

has to be you who takes that initiative

and no one else can do that for you

and yeah it is scary it is probably the

scariest part of it all

making that first move but when you are

afraid

tell yourself to be bolder than that

fear holding you back

and then just go ahead and make that

move so

fast forward um three months after i

applied i got to know i was

in the organizing team and my experience

with this tedx event was just so

wholesome

i met some amazing people who are some

of my closest friends now

and i learned so much and of course i

got to listen to some amazing speakers

and their stories which i loved so much

there were also these challenges which

at the time

i didn’t think i could do some of them

but with the help of my teammates and my

some effort on my end i was actually

able to do it

and i i surprised myself i i had grown

so much and

just discovered new things about myself

which i

wouldn’t have done if i hadn’t taken

this opportunity

and i wouldn’t have done that in the

first place if i hadn’t make made that

first move so convince yourself to be

brave and make

that first move

i always keep thinking about why we are

free to move out of our comfort zone

what is

holding us back what is the basis of

that fear and i think that

that is a fear of failure we are afraid

more out of our comfort zone because

we are afraid to fail and there’s just

so much negative connotation with

failure you know we think of it as an

embarrassment i mean when was the last

time

you spoke openly of your failures over

your successes

as much as it’s important to learn what

to do you also need to learn what not

to do and that is exactly what failure

can teach you

so i play netball and when i was um

a freshman i wanted to join the

university and netball team so i applied

for the tryouts and then on the day of

the tryouts

i realized that i was so nervous i was

really so

way more nervous than how i you i am

before games

and my nerves got to me so much that day

that i couldn’t even perform

you know to the level i wanted to so my

job

in a netball team is a shooter i am

responsible for making

goals i put the ball through the hoop

but on this day

i couldn’t even make a single goal my

nerves had really affected me so much

and i was really disappointed in myself

but

even though i felt upset my

epic failure that day taught me

something

it taught me what not to do it taught me

that i could not

let my nerves get to me so much i had to

manage it

so the next year when i tried out again

because obviously i didn’t make it to

the team the last time

i told myself okay you’re gonna manage

your nerves so what i did was 30 minutes

before the game

i sat on a bench and then i listened to

music

but not just any music bollywood music

so i have this way with bollywood music

you could be speaking to me while i

listen to bollywood songs but i

would not be listening to you i would be

picturing myself dancing

so it was a great distraction and i felt

calm just

calm enough to perform and i personally

think i did a pretty good job during

those tryouts

and i did make it to the team afterwards

but i was just so

most importantly i was just glad i had

viewed my

failure as a learning tool and not as an

embarrassment

so my tip too to you would be to

change your mindset about looking at

failure as an

embarrassment but rather look at what

you can learn from it

don’t be afraid of your failure the

moment you stop being afraid of your

failures

you’re gonna it’s gonna be easy for you

to move out of your comfort zone because

you don’t have nothing to lose you’re

not afraid to fail

so embrace your failures and see what

they

it can teach you

getting out of your comfort zone is

really not i think it’s not something

you can do overnight

it’s important to take small steps

towards it for example if

you want to be a pop singer you know at

a concert for a large audience

your small steps could be taking up

smaller gigs

at open mic nights or school talent

shows to smaller audiences

so tip three of moving out of your

comfort zone would be to break

your main goal into smaller chunks and

approach it in a

small step step-by-step manner and by

doing that

you can essentially make your journey

out of your comfort zone

a little less overwhelming because if

you were to dive head first into that

main big goal it can be so overwhelming

that you might give up easily

i confessed earlier about how i am so

afraid of public speaking

but luckily for me before coming here

today i was also able to take up a few

small scale speaking challenges so at

school and university i could speak

i could do some poster presentations and

powerpoint presentations to smaller

crowds

and i think that made this experience a

little less overwhelming

to me uh but nevertheless i have not

done something like this before to and

such an event so i think i’m definitely

going to treat myself to those donuts i

mentioned before when i go back home

so if i had one goal today it would be

to leave

my audience inspired

to give you one take-home message

don’t ever ever let fear get in the way

of doing something you love because it

could become

something so so great and meaningful to

you

getting out of your comfort zone is it

scary it’s so scary but once you do it

you’re gonna feel so good and so proud

of yourself

you can also you use moving out of your

comfort zone

as a way to learn new things about

yourself and maybe become more confident

and

be appreciative of who you are

remember the biggest pity is not

fail at trying something new but the

biggest pity is to not even

give yourself the chance to try

something new in the first place

moving out of your comfort zone can help

you become a better version of yourself

so would you want to stand in the way of

something as great as that

thank you