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