Sep 1

Sep 1 Stuck in your career 'comfort zone'?

Many people are in highly stressful jobs, but conversely, you can be fully in your comfort zone for years on end and it can be just as hard - if not more.

In a stressful job, as long as you have the right support and the environment is positive, you can learn to manage the stress and develop significant resilience.

In a role where you stay in your comfort zone for a long time, it can be destructive because the human mind needs to feel challenged and to keep learning in order to maintain growth and feel hopeful about future progress.

When you feel like you’re repeating the same tasks with little new learning and growth for long periods of time, life can start to feel like it’s losing its lustre and excitement.

What’s more, it can be so hard to move away from our comfort zones - particularly if we’ve been in stressful roles or toxic workplace situations previously - because it means taking a risk and stepping way out of our comfort zones. It can mean the possibility of failure, which we’re all taught from a young age is bad and to avoid.

Sometimes, our comfort zones can seem like the right way to go in order to heal from a stressful or significant event in our lives - either personally or professionaly.

That’s totally okay. The issue is often when that comfort zone lasts for years on end, and you can’t seem to find a way to move beyond it.

After all, here’s what you’re probably weighing up:

A steady income and regular paycheck to service your lifestyle and pay the bills
A long-term career you’ve taken what seems like forever to build
You’re likely very good at your job (side note: just because you’re good at something, doesn’t mean you have to do it)
All the perks and bonuses that come with the above.

Against:

Pursuing what you’re passionate about
Feeling purposeful and driven again
Fulfilling your potential
Looking forward to Mondays on another level
Creating the life you truly desire - financially, time-wise, and location

There are many things you can do in an existing role to stretch yourself and keep growing. But if you’re here, it’s likely that you’ve tried many of those paths and you’re still feeling stuck.

Can you even remember what it felt like to feel in growth mode, pusposeful and looking forward to your weeks?

To be using your strengths and developing your talents?

To feel that you’re being of the highest possible service in the world with the work that you do every day?

Listen, the work that you do is SO important.

YOU are so important.

When you give yourself permission to identify and follow your purpose, you open up the possibilities for others to do the same.

You personally have the power to create massive positive change in the world simply by virtue of being happy and fulfilled.

Here’s some steps that you can take right now to propel yourself forward:

Give yourself permission.
No one is going to give you permission but you! Once you’ve decided to create change, you become beyond powerful.
Know that it’s possible.
Whatever you want to create, you can. Find inspiration from others who have walked the path you want to tread before you. Read about how they did it. Listen to podcasts and start to immerse yourself in the world you want to create for yourself.
Create a plan.
Once you know you’re ready to move forward, it’s time to set some goals and create a plan to get there. The biggest goals are mastered one step at a time, but you need to outline exactly which step you need to take next.
Take action.
What’s one step you can take right now that will start edging you forward towards your goals? Even if you have 10 minutes a day - it will all add up.
Work on your mindset to continue expanding and growing.
Keep learning and re-calibrating as you go. The mindset that has gotten you to where you are today needs to shift and expand to get you towards bigger goals.

You don’t have to do it alone, and you can start on the side first with little risk. The key is to just get started!