What’s your comfort zone?

Andy Grove, co-founder of Intel Corporation said, ” Only the paranoid survive”.

I am a total believer in this theory.  Not sure you need to take it to the extremes with paranoia, but constantly reviewing your strategy, staying on top of your next move and noticing that scared stomach feeling you get at times as a welcome reminder that your business is alive and well makes for a healthy business .  If we want success, we have to be consistently coming up with new things to sell, new ways to sell it, new stores, new marketing, new PR, new celebrities and in general, fresh news about our company.  In short, we need to be better, faster and stronger than we were the prior quarter.

And yes, you will have friends and family bugging you that you work too much or too hard, and are always concerned about your business. Instead of defending yourself, just say “Thanks for noticing”……this will totally rock their world.  But you know what you were really saying, is that this fear (or paranoia) is what makes you successful.

I find that when I get too comfortable with what I am doing in my business that sales slide, I find myself to be utterly boring, my blogging suffers, and in general, things are not going well.  Daymond John told me that his mom always said, “It takes the same energy to think small as it does to think big.”  I think of this quote often when jumping out of my comfort zone.

Failure is not an option right?

What do you do to get out of your comfort zone?

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Written by Sarah Shaw

There are 5 comments

claudia fileto says:

August 4, 2011 at 9:14 am

By staying focused on the goals I have for my business and planning my activities accordingly.

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Darla Arni says:

August 4, 2011 at 9:25 am

One thing I do is make a list of my fear or whatever is holding me back, challenge it, tear it up, throw it away and stop saving myself and my talents for some ‘out there’ magical time that will never come. The time is now and you make your own magic!

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Lill says:

August 4, 2011 at 10:25 am

I heard Nadal interviewed recently during Wimbledon and he said he is more nervous now before a match than he was before his first Wimbledon. You would think that would be reversed but his desire to excel is even stronger now. That let’s me know that it is OK to have some butterflies–it just means I want to do my best. Great post, Sarah!

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Sneha says:

August 4, 2011 at 10:44 am

This was a milestone year for me and I promised myself to step out of my comfort zone both personally and professionally by taking a few smaller steps to reach my goal than the one big step that would give me too many sleepless nights. Thanks for the reminder.

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Maelan Williams says:

August 8, 2011 at 8:53 am

I go to the gym and listen to motivational speakers while I work out. It helps me train my mind and body into believing hard pays off.

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