Why do we fear risk? What keeps us from living out the things we want most?
The safe zone.
It is why that new business idea you've been thinking about has never been put into action. It's why you've never asked out the girl you have your eyes on for months. Its why you haven't left your job. The safe zone gives you what you need. Comfort, security, the ability to feel that life can be lived in a straight and linear path without bumps in the road. You may be asking what's wrong with comfort and security? Isn't that what we all want?
Yes reader. Most of us desire comfort and security and we think playing it safe allows us the best chance to live that life. But there are two problems when living in the safe zone: no growth and no answers.
When we are comfortable, we stay the same. We know the outcome of every and any situation. But we grow more when we do something that is outside their safe zone. It's said the most successful entrepreneurs in the world have failed at least 3 times before finding success. They had to make decisions outside of what they knew and thus cost them those businesses. The resounding trait in entrepreneurs is the ability to learn from previous mistakes and correct them. They overcame their fears and pushed themselves to new boundaries.
We spend so much time on the practicality of things, we forget what the power of our ideas have. Our ideas are invaluable to us. It allows us to push our limitations and help create. Yet, we undermine their value because we do not put them into action. If one of our ideas is successful, we are afraid to live a life of failure after that one success. If one of our ideas turns into failure, we immediately come down incredibly hard on ourselves.
We have to stop looking at what could happen and start looking at what we can learn and grow from it.
In today's world with an unstable global economy and sluggish job market, we face an insurmountable amount of uncertainty. We want to hold on tighter to what we have right now. We cannot let these times of uncertainty prevent us from thinking and imagining bigger ideas. When we were kids, we didn't think about risk. We didn't even know what that meant when we were bombing down hills on skateboards or climbing up and down trees. We just went ahead and did it. We always learned after our leap of faith what the answer was.
And we were content and moved forward.
So here's how to get out of the safe zone. Let your brain run wild. Let it think whatever it wants to think. Don't try to harness it. See what comes to mind and write it down. If its an idea, don't try to make sense of it just put it down on paper. You're not working on the validity of ideas. You need to get thinking about getting your mindset out of the comfort zone. If you are having a difficult time writing down your ideas, here's something I hope inspires you to take that first step.
When Dr. Deepak Chopra, the famous spiritual guru, was asked what he teaches his children about failure and uncertainty, the doctor replied.
"I tell my children I will take care of them no matter what. I tell them to do the best they can in anything and everything for they have nothing to fear about losing."
What could you accomplish if you knew you could never fail?