I met some awesome people this week after taking a moment to coach myself out of my comfort zone and into greater connection… Here’s what happened and the three simple steps to making a change that we probably all know but sometimes forget to take.
The problem
The week before last I found myself starting a pity party 😔: I hadn’t many friends because I’d been working too hard, worked in a small business, had clients rather than friends etc etc…
I caught the thought and realised it had been circling around for a while so I decided to do something about it rather than whinging to myself any more.
After looking at the problem I decided that my current routine didn’t support meeting many new people. Thus, I would have to change that routine and step outside my comfort zone to actually meet new people deliberately.
I reminded myself that if I didn’t do so I would be in the same space in months or years. The short term pain of getting out there would be worth it if I could find some new friends I could relate to, especially work wise.
The result
So I got onto eventbrite.com.au and meetup.com and looked for networking events and promptly signed myself up for 8 events in 8 days. (Well I was researching anyway – may as well make good use of the time).
Today, nine days later, I get to sit down to evaluate and tweak my strategy. I’ll decide how each event went and which ones I will go to on a more regular basis. I’ll decide whether to look for different types of events. And maybe think about whether there are any other strategies I want to try.
The immediate results were excellent. The week brought me in contact with over 100 friendly new faces. I got to chat with interesting people I would never have met if I just carried on doing what I’ve always done. Including some people with whom I really clicked and where there’s a possibility of a firm friendship growing.
It reinforced for me the key reasons I coach: to help people listen to and act on their thoughts and create the future they want. And to keep those skills honed to use for myself!
The underlying process: The 3 easy steps to creating change and leaving your comfort zone
This was an uncomplicated problem to fix once I decided to do something about it as there were no hidden value conflicts that I needed to resolve for example. So I could just follow this 3 step process to open the three barriers I blogged about here and create change.
1. Take some time to actually think about what’s going on in your head. Remind yourself of your current pain and frustration and take a moment to really feel it. (Come off autopilot and build certainty – checkpoint 1)
2. Imagine the rewards that action will bring and moving past any discomfort such as entering a room where you don’t know anyone. (Imagine – checkpoint 2)
3. Think of the first 3 steps you need to do to get started. This will convince your logical brain that you’ve got this. (Create logical steps – checkpoint 3)
Follow this process and, like mine did, your brain will spring into action almost before you have finished the steps. (You may need to do some other things to maintain the change or if there are other things going on in your subconscious).
If you have done something recently that required stepping out of your comfort zone share it below with how you made the change.
Links: Great places to find people like you: eventbrite.com.au and meetup.com
