Image courtesy of Paul Simpson’s photostream
Courage. No big decision, growth, or success can ever occur without courage. Building courage is all about putting yourself in uncomfortable situations more often. The more you get used to challenging yourself out of your comfort zone, the more courageous you become. The more courageous you become, the more able you will be to make big decisions and take educated risk to advance your business, career, or personal growth. Courage is the one and only trait you need to get ahead.
It is certainly courageous to decide to become an Entrepreneur or go sky diving but there are simpler and more economic ways to get started on being more courageous, today. Here are 5 things to try to move out of your comfort zone and build courage.
1. Avoid being a creature of habit: Drive a different route to work, park in a different parking spot every day, use a different door to enter your office, elimate the concept of “my seat” in conference rooms, or the dinner table.
2. Learn a new skill: Sign up for a new class, online course, or activity that you don’t know much about. It can be work or personal related.
3. Go somewhere alone: Go to the movies or out to dinner alone. If you do that already, try a long weekend or a vacation by yourself.
4. Volunteer: Sign up to volunteer in an area that will push you out of your comfort zone. There are opportunities that would take as little as 15 minutes to organizations that require longer commitments.
5. Sell positive: Praise yourself for the courageous choices you do make instead of putting yourself down when you make a less courageous choice. Believing in your self is a big part of being courageous.
When you take actions daily to grow more courageous, it will help you build confidence and dare to move out of your comfort zone. Every big career move and life change is at least a little, and most likely a lot, uncomfortable. By getting used to and conquering that uncomfortable feeling on a smaller scale, you will be more inclined to tackle the large scale changes that require the ultimate courage.