This still is from a scene in the movie Kung Fu Panda 3. An awkward conversation is going on between Po aka, the dragon warrior, a panda, who is the central character in the series and his teacher, Master Shifu.
For the uninitiated, in previous events, master Shifu announces his retirement and handovers his responsibilities as the trainer to Po. Po is initially shocked, however he reluctantly takes over the responsibility solely on obedience. He attempts to do his job as the trainer and issues commands to his team.
Due to lack of teaching skills and no experience, he fails miserably causing his teammates to get injured. Naturally everyone are as disgusted at Po as they can be. While on his way back home, Shifu meets him and this awkward(for Po) conversation mentioned earlier begins.
Po asks Shifu, what made the later even think that he can be a master. Shifu said he already knew that Po will fail miserably. Po couldn’t digest this further and asked him the reason to which he responded with a statement which forms the crux of this article.
“If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than (what) you are now.”
Why do we have to move out of our comfort zones? Why can’t we simply sit and enjoy whatever we have achieved and accomplished in life so far? Why to even risk our efforts to something we don’t even know whether it’s worth or not?
The answer is simple. Growth!
However, stepping out of comfort zone is not an easy thing to do as you are too attached to it. You will constantly be wanting to go back and relax where you were earlier. As a matter of fact, nothing in life comes for free. Everything you want to have, buy, achieve or accomplish comes with a cost.
It is not a hard and fast rule to do everything the hard way. There are also easy and subtle ways to do that. Leaving your comfort zone can also be done with the following subtle ways for your progress and growth.
1. Take the longer route.
You are walking your way to home from where you started. You have no hurry to reach home and there is no fixed time of reaching home. In this case, there is no harm in reaching home through a longer way. You might get to know about new ways which can reach places where you go frequently. Now that’s a plus when you know multiple ways to reach a place. Remember readers, this is only when the mentioned multiple conditions apply.
2. Walk the extra mile.
You have made a habit of going out for an early morning walk. That’s certainly a great thing to keep yourself fit. You have a fixed number of rounds may be in a park or ground where you walk, jog or run before leaving. After weeks or months of walking the same distance, you are enough fit to walk or run an extra round. Doing this for daily, your body will adapt it and the extra round will be your new normal.
3. Talk to strangers.
It doesn’t hint at walking a street and greeting every other person with a “hello, how you doing?” or a “good morning”. It is about people you meet more often and know each other by face and exchange smiles. One of the best example of this is when you are travelling to your college or office, where you travel by the same train or bus daily and you see the same face. You can strike a conversation. You will learn about his life, personal and professional and he will learn yours. You will become buddies, share your problems and may also be able to solve them.
4. Try your hands at households, you never did.
You know to sweep & clean the floor, wash utensils & clothes, grocery shopping(simplest you could ever do). That’s great! You know a lot, but not everything. Ever tried hands at cooking? Everyone can cook noodles from a packet or an omelet on a pan. Try to cook dishes, you expect your mother to cook and serve you. You can start from basics like chopping veggies to finally handing spices systematically. This will not only be a help to your mother but also you can prepare your favorite delicacies on your own and add up to your extra skill.
5. Travel to some unexplored destinations.
Everyone loves to be on vacations. Everyone has their go-to list prepared way before the summer or Christmas holidays. People mostly go to their favorite places and have a splendid time. Now this favorite also means that the place is already visited previously and you know about its specialty. Why not try a place or any destination which you never explored before. Every place deserves to be explored at least once if there are no bad things heard about it. You never know you may even like the place much more than your favorite one.
6. Learn new things.
Humans are gifted with talents with only condition to explore them. Talents are just like treasures. They can be anywhere. They can be found either accidentally or by exploring. Those who accidentally discover their talents at an early age and turn it into their passion can make legends in future. Unfortunately, not everyone discovers their hidden talent at early age. Talents can alternatively be explored by trying new things and to do this it is necessary to learn new things at regular point of time. You can enroll for any classes or learn through online tutorials, sources are many.
These are the simplest ways how can one learn to step out of comfort zone. You will notice a change in you after following these ways.
What are you doing to take your first step to come out of your comfort zone? Leave your answer in comments.
