How many of us at sometime or another have procrastinated about what we should or shouldn’t be doing with our business. You are not alone and many business owners face this dilemma because running your own business can be a daunting time and costly if you make less favourable decisions.

One of the many reasons why we procrastinate in life is due to our fear, or should I say our perceived fear of potential outcomes and is one of the reasons we prefer to stay within our comfort zones, where we feel safe. This is no different when running a business.

We all operate according to our personal perception of reality from a position of comfort and it is a natural survival instinct for us to do things that are within our own individual ‘Comfort Zones’. However, one thing that sets achievers apart from others is that they understand the importance of safely stepping outside of our comfort zones and stretching ourselves more than usual.

It is only when we step outside of our comfort zones and in to an area of ‘stretch’ that new learning’s become available to us, it is these new learning’s that provide the essential feedback necessary for us to grow and develop. It allows us to engage in a ‘trial and error’ process.

However, it is also necessary to understand that we all have different comfort zones and the thresholds for what is comfort, stretch or panic vary from one person to the next. For example, if you had a goal to become an excellent and skilled trapeze artist and looked to a world famous performer to model yourself on, is it prudent to stretch yourself to the same extent as them? Swinging around above a safety net at 100 feet may present no problems for someone who is experienced and yet for others it will be too much of a stretch.

We each have our own comfort zones and a goal that may not be a challenge for some, may be too much of a challenge for others. Therefore, whilst modelling our behaviour on others is a great way to determine how we can potentially achieve the same results, it can also result in us over stretching ourselves and lead to experiencing a sense of panic, which could result in a ‘conditioned response’ of avoidance.

Therefore, when modelling ourselves on others it is essentialimportant to recognise that we all learn at different paces and levels and therefore to be mindful of not over stretching ourselves. Having realistic goals enables us to stretch safely without stretching too far out side of our comfort zone where we may have the unwanted experience of panic.

The ‘challenge barometer’ is a model that illustrates where our individual comfort zones sit in relation to new experiences and can be looked at as three concentric circles. The very inner circle is our comforts zone, it is small and does not afford a great deal of scope for development. Outside of this is another circle, which is regarded as an area we can safely stretch in to and develop. Finally, beyond this and one the very outer edge is a third cicle, which is considered as the area of panic. We enter this when we have stretched ourselves too far.

This model, advocates that it is healthy for our belief system and potential to grow when we stretch ourselves by 10% at every occasion. By doing something that takes us outside of our comfort zone and without taking us in to panic, we are able to safely experience new learning’s, which will always generate feedback. For example, think of a goal you might have, which at present you believe is beyond your actual capabilities and then ask yourself what could I do now that would take me 10% towards achieving that goal. It may be that your goal is to be confident at public speaking to an audience of 50 strangers. What would 10% of this be? Perhaps it may start off with presenting something to 5 people you know well, and then 10 friends. Having developed your confidence at this level, then 10% stretch may now be to present a speech to 5 strangers and then 10, 15 and eventually building up over a period of time to an audience of 50 people.

Therefore, the process of stretching and challenging ourselves to step outside of our comfort zones can be an effective way of supporting us to develop and achieve our goals, whilst also being able to experience new learning’s that provide valuable feedback. However, we have to be mindful of the meanings we attach to the feedback we gain and to ensure that we only ever see it as feedback and not as failure. People who achieve excellence rarely see unexpected outcomes experienced during moments of stretching as failure and value them as feedback, which they use to influence their decisions and future behaviour.

This article is written by J Keightley who is a professional life coaching specialist and ecommerce business owner of Giggleberries Mens Underwear, it discusses the benefits of stretching outside of our comfort zones to achieve business success.

Learn how to get a grant and get extra money for your business.