It is October. Autumn is well and truly here: wind, rain, long nights and the clocks will change on the 27th. Every time I open the front door leaves blow in and my heating keeps switching on. Children are fantasising about half-term, maybe parents are not! I love this time of year – the clear up in the garden, the bringing out of cosy warm clothes and the cooking of comfort food for the freezer. I love the preparation for hunkering down for winter.
So it is strange that I should be about to write about stepping outside your comfort zone and getting out there to do something new.
I have several clients who are boldly going into a new future. They are moving houses, moving areas, selling businesses and starting new ventures. Personally I am involved in an embryo business that might turn out to be substantial.
Why do we do these things? Someone said “I need to stretch myself; life is getting too easy”. Someone else said “my business is now at the stage where I have to push it to the next stage or capitalise now by selling it and enjoying the worth I have created. And truth is I need a new challenge. Others are speaking about different challenges or using skills they are not currently able to exercise. One even said “I am fed up of banging my head against a brick wall, the excitement has gone out of it – I need a new wall!”
And what is my excuse? I saw an opportunity and had the chance to enjoy myself building what I think will be a dream team. For me irresistible.
The common denominator? Life is getting too easy. I do not mean that we should minimise the day to day stresses of running and developing our current business interests. But there is a point when we can predict how today will go and we want something new. If that means selling the activity we have that can be exciting and then we will have the seed corn to go in a different direction.
So where are you? Do you still love what you do? Is there a tiny voice suggesting a new idea or that you could do something else? Could you combine the two? Have you learnt all sorts of skills, connected with useful people, is it now the moment to step out of your niche and into the light.
As I typed that I thought of the fourteen celebrities left on Strictly Come Dancing. If you are a fan you will have heard only too often “I am good at what I do, but I have never danced, there is so much to learn/so much to concentrate on/it is not as easy as it looks/my pro is a wonderful teacher and I love it.”
There seem to be some immediate rewards for these dancers:
- They become part of the Strictly family
- They are part of a duo and a larger community who are all learning together and supporting each other
- Part of the learning is analysing how the learning is going and planning how to make improvement – it is part of the routine
- They get immediate feedback on how it is going
- There is a competitive environment so there is no chance of resting on any laurels
- They love this new enterprise
These are all wonderful factors in making a successful change. In real life we do not have this framework, we have to build something for ourselves rather than step into a developed structure, but we can do it.
So if you feel like you have itchy feet and need a new stimulus do not be frightened of it, embrace it. Work up a new business plan. Interrogate it. Does it work? Will it generate the income you need? If so then why not? Step out of your comfort zone. It is said the only things we regret are the things we do not do. Instead if asking “why?” Ask yourself “why not?”
Of course as a mentor I think this is where you should seek someone like me to support you, encourage you, help you determine progress and how to make more. I am always happy to speak with anyone, off the meter, to help explore the embryo idea and whether/how to take it forward. Please feel free to contact me.
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Life is good; let’s live it to the full, enjoy it and be the best we can be.