Why Getting Comfortable In Your Business...

Growing up I always thought it was good to be comfortable. I like a comfortable bed. A comfortable lead in my baseball games was good. My parents made a comfortable living. Comfort is good.

Right?

Yes, comfort is great... in the right places. Comfort is great in places where you don’t want (or need) to grow. Comfort is designed to make you not want to move. That comfy chair in your living room keeps you in it for hours because it feels so darn good - but you know it’s better for you if you get up and do something, right?

That comfy living you make at your job keeps you in that place because it’s easier to not “move” than it is to get up and try something new.

Hey Moguls, Trevor Mauch here with this thought…

I’d argue comfort is also a destructive force. Comfort can drag entrepreneurs down. Comfort always comes at a cost.

When I started my companies in 2005-2007, I was anything but comfortable. I had bills I could barely pay. No job (because I chose to give myself a year to try this “entrepreneur thing” before I would force myself to work for someone else). My back was against the wall, and it forced me to make stuff happen.

Those were exciting, fun and fulfilling times for me. I was outside of my comfort zone big time.

But a few years ago, I got comfortable. My back wasn’t against the wall anymore. I had money. More than I knew what to do with. Great customers coming in every single day. Great business partners. A great house. Great family. Awesome trips around the world.

Sounds like a great place to be in life right?

The funny thing is, from the outside looking in people probably thought I had everything. From the inside I was bored. Not having any fun.

I was comfortable. Too comfortable.

When you’re comfortable, you stop growing as a person and entrepreneur.

You stop trying to innovate. You stop “hustling” and making stuff happen. You stop thinking of new ideas. You stop having real purpose in life that fires you up every day.

Comfort is a death sentence to an entrepreneur.

So what did I do?

I forced myself to get out of my comfort zone in almost every aspect of life. That business that was bringing in the big bucks but was boring me... I sold it and started a new business that was new and challenging to me.

That nice home office I had... we turned it into a baby nursery and I went out and secured an 8,000-square-foot space in town and recruited other “comfortable” entrepreneurs to come work there so we could collectively get out of that comfort zone.

I got out there and met people. Lots of people.

In fact, I sometimes work from a coffee shop (in a comfy chair by the way)... the main reason I do this is because I have a goal to have a meaningful conversation with one new person every day. I meet amazing people this way and have wonderful conversations. If I still lived in my comfort zone, this wouldn’t happen.

How to avoid the comfort zone (a.k.a. death zone).

It’s easy to fall into the comfort zone. All of us have at some point in our lives. Some people stay in the comfort zone longer than others (some people stay in it their whole lives because they’re afraid to fail).

So how do you get out of the comfort zone?

Confort zone There’s no magic pill or potion you can take. You have to make the decision that you’re fed up with living an average, boring, unfulfilled life... and you’re not going to take it anymore. That’s first.

Next, what works for me is creating situations and real-world deadlines that force me out of my comfort zone.

Here’s an interesting example…

I ran a Tough Mudder. If you’ve never heard of it... Google it. Basically, it’s a 10.5-mile run through mud, obstacles, hills and the heat. Before this, I’d never run farther than 3 miles at once in my life. Mainly because I didn’t think I could. But once I signed up for the Tough Mudder... it created a real deadline where I had to get out of my comfort zone and get real with myself. It ended up that the 10.5 miles wasn’t all that tough at all. The tough part for me was getting over my own mind blocks.

Know this: Your comfort zone is like a muscle.

The more you flex it and push its boundaries... the more “comfortable” you get with being out of the comfort zone. So, running that 10.5 miles was a huge growth experience for me (mentally more than physically). Now I know I can do much more than that…

So my next big physical fitness goal was a 100-mile bike ride. I never would have made that goal without first getting out of my comfort zone with the Tough Mudder.

So, put yourself in positions every day where you’re out of your comfort zone. It could be as simple as striking up a meaningful conversation with a stranger. Or getting out from behind the computer and calling up a seller and making an offer (even if you know it’ll get rejected).

Do something like that every day.

Like my buddy and fellow investor, Patrick Riddle, says:

“When you feel that weird feeling in the pit of your stomach...
you know you’re doing something right.”

So, whether you’re an entrepreneur or not... we’re all in this together. Life is more interesting, fun, fulfilling and AWESOME when we live outside of our comfort zones.

Next time you start to feel comfortable, ask yourself if comfortable is really what you want. If you feel that weird feeling in the pit of your stomach that you get whenever you’re nervous, just know that’s a good thing.

How do you get uncomfortable?

Tell us how you got out of your comfort zone in the comments section below.

Step out of your comfort zone so you can grow.

Put yourself in positions every day in life to force yourself to do something new.

Remember it’s a good thing to feel that uneasy feeling in your stomach when trying something new or stepping out of your zone – that means you’re pushing yourself to be better.