The Comfort Zone is a familiar term to most people; it’s the place where we are in our daily routines, no shocks, no nasty surprises, no challenges. While this sounds like a pleasant place to be – sometimes – without challenges and surprises, we find ourselves repeating the same routine day after day, without any opportunity to change or grow. It is the challenge and stress of the new that stimulates our bodies and minds to respond according to our evolutionary nature, to develop in the direction of the stress and challenge.

How to break out of your comfort zone?

1. Write a list of your day to day routine – how much ‘new stuff’ is in there? How much do you simply hit repeat every morning when the alarm bell goes off
2. Make a DREAMS LIST of all the things that you dream of doing, and don’t limit yourself here, let your imagination go wild, and have FUN with this!
3. Make a THINGS I RESIST LIST of all the things that you know you ‘should do’, but put off because they make you feel uncomfortable. Things like asking your boss for a raise, or for unpaid leave to go travelling (to fulfill one of the things on the list above), phoning a friend or family member to apologise for something you did and said that you know wasn’t an expression of your ‘best you’, reaching out to someone for support either on a project, or simply to have someone to talk to if you’re going through a tough time.
4. Finally commit to adding at least one thing per WEEK from your THINGS I RESIST LIST, so you work through these – some maybe quick-fixes, others, like a difficult apology, may bring up deeper issues, which need more on-going work. And once per MONTH, commit to taking one irreversible step towards fulfilling one of your dreams. For example, if taking a year off work to go travelling is up there, the conversation with your boss, will cover two things, the next thing you might want to do is to book a flight, or make an appointment to meet a friend or travel specialist to find out more about where, how and when…

If we are talking about expanding our comfort zone in our training, you can follow the same steps:

1. What are you repeating in your training that feels repetitive and isn’t bringing results?
2. Write your DREAMS LIST – where do you want to go with your freediving? Do you want to reach 100m dynamic in the pool, swim through the Arch in Dahab, become an instructor, set a national or world record? Goals are very personal, get real and get honest with yourself about what it is that YOU want to achieve, without listening to others around you.
3. Next, write your THINGS I RESIST LIST – are you popping up early in your dynamic training, resisting going into the fight phase of a long swim? Do you spend money that you should be saving for depth training holidays on useless and silly things, and what are the excuses that hide the fear behind this sabotaging behaviour, what are you really avoiding? Look for the connections between your daily life and what happens in your training as they are totally interconnected.
4. In training you can ONLY address the THINGS I RESIST LIST, but it is by tackling these one by one that you start to take baby steps towards your big goal. By understanding and processing your resistances to growth, you slowly start to demolish the wall that is standing between you and greatness.

You deserve to live the most awesome, exciting and incredible life you can imagine! Go for it – step boldly out of your comfort zone, and watch yourself and your life expand and take flight! Enjoy!

Find out more about how to actively tackle your comfort zone and get your training and your life flying, with my new Yoga for Freediving online course here.