Pushing Beyond Your Comfort Zone
Written on November 23, 2009 by Susan Payton
My high school art teacher, who has long had insights about me that took me years to realize (like when she told me I should move toward writing rather than art; that one hurt for a while, but she was right), recently gave me something to chew on.
We were talking about trying to get people to do what they don’t want to do. Then she said, “Well, that’s your job, isn’t it? Getting people to do what they’re not comfortable doing?” And she walked away, Buddha-like, to yoga class, leaving me stumped.
That is what I do.
I take great pains to nudge my clients and potential clients toward doing things that make them uncomfortable, like:
- Determine their marketing budget
- Start marketing a business they’ve never marketed before
- Move beyond the familiar press release into uncharted territory (i.e. social media)
- Measure their results
It’s hard, most days, making people uncomfortable. But when I convince them that I know what the heck I’m talking about, the rewards can be so great. Like the client who we helped increase traffic 200% through Twitter and Facebook efforts. Or the client who got 700 web visits from a single blog post. On these days, I know I’m in the right business, and that I can truly help companies expand their brand and find new customers. It’s those days that keep me going.
What about you? Do you do things that make you uncomfortable? Do you take risks for great rewards? Maybe that needs to be one of your resolutions for 2010. Tell me one thing you want to push yourself to do next year.
I’m sort of obsessed with pushing my comfort zone. I do Zazen, I’m an Internet entrepreneur, I built a house out of trash in the desert for 3 years, I play improve Jazz, etc… But none of that is as uncomfortable as marketing!
Unless we move out of our comfort zone, we are not going to pioneer anything. If Columbus had remained safely ensconced in Spain, He certainly would never have discovered the New World.