Why It's Ok To Be Anxious Outside Your Comfort Zone
How do you feel about stepping out of your comfort zone?
If you were asked to give a talk that was being recorded and could be seen by potentially hundreds of thousands of people, would you jump at the opportunity or say hell no?
I had to make that decision a little while ago when Niall Clerkin - TEDx Curator, Speaker and Coach contacted me about doing a talk.
My reaction was hell yes.
(here's the video which just went up https://linktw.in/CYoQ01)
Before writing it, I immersed myself, watching the best Ted talks to see what really resonated.
Then I rehearsed and rehearsed to get the content as deeply embedded in my brain as possible.
But when I came to stand on that TedX stage, I still felt outside my comfort zone.
And that’s not a bad thing.
Expecting to feel uncomfortable and still being OK with it, is part of the experience.
What can make a difference is how much you appreciate stepping outside your comfort zone.
Studies show if you find value in pushing yourself outside what feels comfortable, you develop more confidence in your ability to succeed.
Researchers from Duke University (Kiknadze and Leary 2021) found people who appreciate pushing themselves out of their comfort zone are more confident they could make themselves perform tasks outside their comfort zone.
The psychological term is comfort zone orientation.
But what they are saying is if you think you can handle it, you probably can!
And it’s been shown that beliefs about your own ability influence your decisions about future actions, and determine the types of situations you put yourself in. (Banbura 1994)
When I stood on that TedX stage, I remembered another important concept- the spotlight effect.
We tend to overestimate how much others are thinking about us.
Even on stage, most of the audience is thinking - ‘what’s in this talk for me’ ‘Am I going to find what she says valuable?” or even ‘ what are we having for dinner’.
So this helps me feel grounded and stay in my own lane, rather than focusing on what others might think.
So find that spark of courage inside you to go for whatever goals you have your heart set on, knowing confidence comes from taking those leaps and knowing you gave it a shot.
How have you stepped out of your comfort zone lately?
You can find free resources on mental health here and here.
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Take care, Soph x