“Prince Rabadash’s army lay close behind them, Anvard ahead. If they did not reach Anvard before Rabadash and his horde, their journey, their entire lives, would have been wasted. The horses, Bree and Hwin (both of whom could, of course, talk) galloped. Certainly both horses were doing, if not all they could, all they thought they could do; which is not quite the same thing. But a lion appeared out of nowhere and with the spur of terror; Bree now discovered that he had not really been going as fast, not quite as fast, as he could.”
This extract is of course taken from The Chronicles of Narnia, that fount of a million, simple and usually overlooked truths. It illustrates perfectly what it takes for some of us to be steered out of our comfort zone.
Perhaps of all the temptations we meet in life, money, power, sex, alcohol, drugs and fame, the subtlest of all is the comfort zone, that invitation to settle for less, to go for content when the stresses of over achievement beckon. The way that takes you out of the comfort zone is the route less travelled. Most of us when we come to that place where the two paths divide prefer the one that leads to safety, to warmth and to comfort.
Both in sport and in business, I have witnessed countless companies, friends, colleagues, and team-mates who underachieved, despite having far superior skills and talents when compared to others who have made it to the top.
The reasons have always been the same, fear of leaving the comfort zone and entering into the unknown, the land potentially of failure and rejection. But I believe there is another way to motivate individuals and coax them out and it relies on one simple fact, most people do not know what they want from life.
Certainly, the majority working in a commercial field will say they crave success but without understanding what success means for them. Of course, describing success is difficult, because it will be different for all of us. The definition I prefer is “The achievement of a worthwhile goal.”
Success should be something you do not just ‘Kinda Sorta’ want to achieve but something you MUST achieve.
Generally, successful people expect to be successful and as a consequence, they usually are. They are driven by a have to attitude not a want to attitude.
If you are going to climb out of your comfort zone, you must deep down feel that you have to.
My experience is that you cannot have everything you want, but you can have anything you really want, you just have to decide what it is and then be prepared to move out of your comfort zone to achieve it.