Stuck with fear? Flipping perspective might help

Do you ever find yourself facing a challenge, but feeling stuck? Too fearful to take a leap into the unknown and step forward, and feeling like staying where you are is a safer, more comfortable place to be.

It's not uncommon, and in one of our recent meetings, we realised how often we do the same.

It's all about comfort zone. It's a place where we find ourselves feeling safe, it's familiar and it requires little effort to be there - it's called the comfort zone for a reason. The problem is that we can see our comfort zone can be too much of an attractive prospect - a good place to be, we can often see it as a positive. We also see the places outside of here as fraught with danger, the place where we might make mistakes, it's risky and it takes more effort.

These views in themselves are part of the problem, and a session from LeanIn has helped me to realise the importance of flipping this perspective and seeing these in opposite ways.

The comfort zone is a place where I stagnate, nothing much happens and long term, it's quite frankly boring. Outside of my comfort zone is where I start to grow, it's exciting, full of new things to discover, it's where I will find energy and excitement, and it's packed full of potential.

It makes it seem less attractive to stay in the dull old comfort zone doesn't it?

I can apply this thinking to the challenges that I face: What are all the wonderful things that might happen if I push myself forwards? What might I achieve? What new ways of working, new people, new skills are waiting there for me?

What are all the negatives of staying where I am? What does the future look like if I choose not to act or change or face up to a challenge?

It's a simple technique but takes practice. Next time you find yourself stuck in your comfortable place rather than throwing yourself into a challenge, trying flipping your perspective and seeing what possibilities sit waiting for you if you can find the courage to act.