"The Devil We Know"

The Comfort Zone. We’ll all been there. Some of us have taken up residence for quite a long stretch now and again. ( Mentor Barb Wade )

And some even put down roots and move in for good. 

It’s pretty nice, I suppose. It’s got all your familiar things: your fears, your limiting beliefs, your perfect rationalizations, your reasonable excuses, and let’s not forget a whole closet full of “Better not, it might end badly.”  

But is it really all that comfortable when it comes right down to it? Shouldn’t it really be called the Familiar Zone? You’re used to it. It seems to fit well. It’s like a well-worn couch with a “you-shaped” rut worn into it. 

Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. Or so they say. Personally, I’d rather not dance with the devil at all if possible. But maybe that’s just me. 

Okay, enough with the metaphors. Here’s what I DO know: 

No one ever attained success by lounging around in their Comfort Zone. 

Any game worth playing does not take place in your comfort zone. That’s the price of admission to success. Your Zone is like the poppies in the Wizard of Oz – a great place to take a snooze. 

Robert Browning said, “…a man’s reach should exceed his grasp or what’s a heaven for?” (Or a woman’s, for that matter.)

So… what “heaven” are you stretching to reach? What dream is just beyond your grasp right now? 

And most importantly, what steps are you regularly taking to get there? What kind of “Out of Zone” experiences do you have planned? 

You’ll never know what you can achieve unless you push yourself. 

Today’s fear quickly becomes tomorrow’s regret. You know that retirement home right next door to your Comfort Zone – the “Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda Manor?”  Also not a great place to live.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go get uncomfortable.  

“It is not the things that you did that you will regret, but the things that you did not do. … So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

- Mark Twain