Comfort Zones!
An article by Jim Connolly
Your Comfort Zone. . . .I've lost count of how many times I have read about the ‘fact’ that our potential is trapped within a single, all-important comfort zone and that in order to become more successful; you have to break out of this all-governing comfort zone.  Around the world, trainers and authors have been telling us for decades to “leave your comfort zone."

Ladies and gentlemen - they are talking TOTAL RUBBISH!”

The reality is that our potential is not capped by a ‘single’ comfort zone; but rather by the thousands of limitations we place in the various areas of our life.  These limits go on to create thousands of different comfort zones.  The idea that you live within a single comfort zone falls apart as soon as you test it.

OK – Here's how it works!

I want you to imagine you are on a safe, straight section of a motorway or freeway and that there is no other traffic around you and no speed cameras either.  The weather is perfect and you have the road to yourself.  As you accelerate your car, you will reach a speed where you stop accelerating.  This is the speed limit you have set yourself for driving in ideal conditions – your comfort zone for this driving scenario.  Driving any faster than this would make you feel less safe.  Equally, if you noticed yourself driving slower, you would accelerate until you reached your ideal speed.  The limitation you set governs what actions you take; in this case, whether to break or to accelerate. 

Let’s now imagine that a thick fog appears.  You decide to slow down; until you reach the speed you have set yourself for driving in fog.  This new speed represents a new comfort zone; the one that sets your speed when driving in fog.  The person overtaking you has a comfort zone that is set to a higher speed and the person crawling along that same road is also within their comfort zone; wondering why you drive so fast!

The limitations we set in every area of our life govern how we act.  This is why we need to make sure that these limits have been set correctly.  You see, if you have set an income limitation of £30,000 a year, you will find it impossible to earn much more than this.  Just as in the above example; where the driver either hit the breaks or hit the gas in order to stay within their speed comfort zone, a person with a £30,000 income limitation will hit the breaks when they realise they are on target to hit their income limit!  They feel ‘comfortable’ and thus coast along.  I once met with a salesman who told me that he could not relax each year until he had earned £80,000.  This was his salary comfort zone.  The problem was, he hit this target by October – and told me he could not wait until next year, so he could start selling again!

Employers who hire salespeople with ‘low cost lifestyles’ can confirm that these people never maintain high performance.  It is far harder for a person with a £20,000 a year lifestyle to earn £40,000 than it is for someone with a £40,000 a year lifestyle to earn that same amount.

When referring to the financial value of someone, wealthy people are often referred to as being ‘comfortably off’ or comfortable.  The reality is that they are indeed comfortable – but that their comfort zone for wealth is far higher than the average person.

How comfortable are you with regard to the success of your business or the amount of money you have?  I am not talking here about what you tell yourself you want, but rather, how comfortable you are, right now, with what you have.  You see, if you feel pretty comfortable with the home you live in, the car you drive, the holidays you have and the quality of life you enjoy, you will find it very difficult to break beyond this!

The most accurate indicator that you are subconsciously comfortable with what you already have is when a business or career reaches a plateau or ‘levelling point’.  If your turnover or income has grown either very slowly or not at all in recent times - and you have not been motivated to do something about it, it could well be an indicator that you have become too comfortable with what you have.

It is not enough to know on an intellectual level that you could have more and should have more.  You need to remove the current limits that are killing your potential in all the key areas of your life, so that you absolutely believe that you HAVE to increase your turnover or income by 100% in the next 12 months – or whatever it is that you want to achieve.

I have developed a very popular audio programme called The Motivation Master Class, which will give you everything you need in order to do this, but whatever you decide to do, please do not accept any less than you deserve.  Don’t waste any more of your time repeating what does not work.  The clock is ticking and believe me, you are capable of achieving so much more.


To your success,

Jim Connolly
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