Today’s podcast is all about reaching beyond your comfort zone. You’re never really finished doing good work, but with that, come some tests to your limits. How can you go above and beyond while also being comfortable with the uncomfortable? Today’s guest has the answers!
Andy Molinsky is a Professor at Brandeis University’s International Business School, with a joint appointment in the Department of Psychology. Andy received his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and M.A. in Psychology from Harvard University. Andy’s extensive knowledge helps people develop the courage to act outside of their personal and cultural comfort zones while doing important work.
One of Bill’s company values is ‘Never Being Finished’ and it’s the idea of always working on your growth and development. In order to truly improve, you must push yourself and get a bit uncomfortable, kind of like exercise. Andy agrees. In Andy’s work and while researching for his book, Reach, he has studied a wide variety of people throughout a number of professions to better understand why is it so hard to step out of our comfort zones.
Why can’t we just be comfortable? Why do we need to force ourselves to be uncomfortable? Andy doesn’t recommend to always strive to be uncomfortable but to strategically pick a couple of high-leverage and important situations that are key to your growth and development.
The types of challenges people face while stepping out of their comfort zones vary. People can experience a crisis with their authenticity or identity, “I’m not the kind of person that fires people.” The second challenge people experience is likability, “This person will hate me if I fire them.” And there’s also confidence issues, “What if I’m bad at this?”
Combine confidence issues with authenticity issues, it’s no wonder so many people suffer from imposter syndrome. They often think, “This doesn’t feel like me, I’m bad at this, and people can tell I am bad at this.”
Our lives are often organized in such a way where we can remain comfortable. We have developed elaborate strategies to purposely avoid discomfort, and it makes sense from a survival perspective. It helps us avoid pain and loss, but it also helps us avoid growth, which can mean death for business owners.
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