Ack! I just got an e-mail reminding me of the Collective Genius! blog. I've been so heads down getting ready for being gone on vacation that I completely spaced it! (Not sure what Collective Genius! is? Read more here.)
As you probably know, I'm headed to Cambodia. Tomorrow I fly to Singapore where I'll spend a couple days, then on to Cambodia on Friday. I have to confess, the trip is taking me a bit outside my comfort zone. I've been feeling a faint buzz of anxiety in the background. It's also been incredibly energizing and motivating. Even if it produces some anxiety, I love the energy I get from venturing out beyond the comfortable.
I've talked here before about the necessity of venturing out beyond our comfort zones in our careers. Comfort for a short time is a good place to recuperate and rest. Comfort for too long leads to stagnation. Growth only comes from exploring the perimeter and dipping your toes (or hurling yourself headlong) beyond the boundaries.
So here's this month's Collective Genius topic. How do you thrive in the discomfort zone? How do you take those growth-inducing steps and still stay centered? How do you overcome the anxiety and fear that so often comes when we push ourselves beyond our known world? What tips and tricks do you have? What has worked for you in the past? What have you learned the hard way?
Since I am going to be on vacation and checking e-mail infrequently at best (and probably less than that), I'm going to do something a little different with this month's Collective Genius. I have created a username and password that everyone can post with so you don't have to wait for me to invite you.
User name: collectivegenius
Password: genzone
If you are already a guest author, you can log on using the user name and password you used before. If not (or if you don't remember it) you can use this.
Another change this month - I'm going to let it run the entire month, rather than just the first week (or so) of the month.
As always, if you post be sure to include your name and a link to your website/blog.
Thanks in advance for all your amazing insights. Enjoy!
Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst TM
Okay, first I have to tell everyone. I'm NOT on your payroll. It's kind of funny because I hadn't stopped by your blog in a few weeks and so I started reading top down, which this post was first. And my answer to: advice for stepping outside your comfort zone, was: get support from others. Then I scrolled down to your next post about your group coaching. But really everyone, this is my answer, not a ploy by Curt to get signups.
Just to be a bit more convincing, while a formal group support network is great, you don't have to go that far. And support can come in a variety of styles. For instance, I've known people who made bets that they would complete a task. Their support network was really people betting against their success. I heard of someone who did this for the "complete a novel in a month" project. He basically got a bunch of people to bet him $50 that he couldn't finish the task. I guess he had a bit of a reputation for not completing things. I think he even made them the offer that they only had to pay him $20 if he succeeded. So he had 20-40 people who had all said he would fail and the motivation that he would have to shell out a couple thousand dollars for not doing the task, was enough to push him to completion. As an aside, he noted that the same approach didn't work the following year.
My favorite story along these lines was told by Paula Danziger. She had a writing buddy, I think it was Bruce Coville, who she used to set a goal with about how many pages or words they each would write in an upcoming week. If they failed, there was a penalty. Paula said her penalty was that she had to make a campaign contribution to a certain Republican (she said this with a look of great distaste) candidate's campaign.
I think in general, people feel that you get better results if you set yourself up with positive reinforcement and motivation. BUT.... you don't HAVE to have positive support. These are a couple creative stories about people who used a penalty to get their butts in the chair and out of procrastination mode.
Posted by: Career Change Time | November 22, 2006 at 05:39 AM