High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 61: Choose Your Courage Zone Not Your Comfort Zone

Episode Date: August 3, 2016

High performers know that growth happens outside their Comfort Zone – in their Courage Zone. They act with courage and bravery. They play big. They do things that are uncomfortable. They are comfortable being uncomfortable. They take risks and try new things. They are okay standing out. They live a life with grit and continually pursing their dreams.  Affirmation this Week: I choose my Courage Zone over my Comfort Zone. I will play big, try new things, and act with courage and bravery. I get comfortable being uncomfortable.

Welcome to High Performance Mindset with Dr. Sindra Kampoff. Do you want to reach your full potential, live a life of passion, go after your dreams? Each week we bring you strategies and interviews to help you ignite your mindset. Let's bring on Sindra. Today, Sindra, welcome, first of all. How's the book going? It's going really good. I got to be done this month. So we got like just a few more weeks. I got about 30 pages left. Deadlines.

So we got some deadlines. So I'm really excited about the month of August. It's going to be a great month. Get it done. And I just keep on sharing you guys just a little bit of tidbits every time I'm on. So I'm excited about the content and the impact it's going to make. Well, today's topic is find your magic. What do you mean by find your magic? I'm going to start with a quote by John Maxwell. He said, if you're growing, you will always be out of your comfort zone. And really what find your magic means is, you know, magic happens outside your comfort zone. You might have heard people say that before. But when we stay in our comfort zone, we don't grow. We don't grow our skills,

our team, our business. We play small and live small. We just survive and we kind of settle for less. We're okay, like being like everyone else. And we let fear and doubt and regret, insecurity get the best of us. You know, and what the crazy thing is that our comfort zone is really we make it. And so it's entirely of our making. But today we're talking about choosing your courage zone instead of your comfort zone, because your courage zone is really where the magic happens. It's bigger because more can happen and you're playing bigger in your courage zone than in your comfort zone. That's good. We hear the term comfort zone all the time, but rarely do we hear courage zone.

So what happens when we decide to choose to live in our courage zone? You know, that's the only place that really high performance and reaching your full potential can happen. It's also the only place where happiness really happens because, you know, if you are always wondering what it could have been and, you know, if you know that that's not going to make you happy. But if you're passionate when you're always growing and learning and developing. And so, you know, I would describe that it's going to be uncomfortable and you're going to experience sometimes failure or mistakes and change. But that's really where you can reach your full potential. All right. Grow that comfort zone a little bit to include some of those things that maybe were at one point in the courage zone or the I'm scared to go there zone.

You've got an image for us, though. So tell us about that. Yeah. So I have two circles. And we can put this on Facebook and we can tweet it today. But yeah, two circles. And the courage zone is a lot bigger than the comfort zone. But most likely, most people kind of live in the small circle, which is the comfort zone,

where you feel safe and secure, but you're playing small. And you're just kind of surviving. You experience fear and doubt and depression. Where in your courage zone, you act with bravery and courage. You play big. You do things you've never tried. You, you know, you take some risks and but you play with no regrets or live with no regrets. And that's where pursuing your dreams and really, you know, moving forward into your growth happens

is in this big circle called your courage zone. I've been, you know, if you're on social media, you'll see people and they'll post like, hey, I just signed up for this race or I just so is that what you mean by like comfort zone versus courage zone activities? And when they're posting about that, it's like, here's what I'm doing. This is exciting for me. Yes, exactly. And they're being honest. They're saying it's a little scary.

I always just like celebrate those. I just saw one this morning. They're like, way to go and way to go. Try new things. So here's a few examples of what I mean. Let's say you want to get in shape, but you overslept this morning instead of working out. Or you say you want to lose weight, but you still eat chocolate every night before you go to bed. Why are you looking at me?

Maybe because that's something I do. Scan the room. I just had oatmeal. Let's say if you say you want to be a state champion, but you choose to go out with your friends and not do the small things that are going to really allow you to be a state champion, or you want to run a 5K, but you stop every time that you feel fatigued, or you say you want to stop smoking, but you sneak the cigarettes in the back patio when no one's watching.

I always feel like that's like, like I said last time, like our inner child throwing a tantrum and being like, I just want a donut. Yeah, exactly. So what I'm suggesting is that all it does is it's just a choice. And it takes us 20 seconds of courage to move from your comfort zone to your courage zone. And I think we just have to be more disciplined. Remember that we're not kids, two-year-olds that can throw a tantrum, right?

And choose our courage zone instead of our comfort zone. So what kind of things, what can we do? How do we find that magic, so to speak, to live in that courage zone more often than not? So I have two ideas for you today. The first idea is to act and think courageously. You know, what I just said was a quote by Benjamin Mee who said, All you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. And I promise you something great will come from it.

Love that one. It's one of my favorites. That is good. You know, I think that's all you need is 20 seconds. It's not very long. Right. But you just need to make a choice in the moment to choose courage. And courage really is not the absence of fear or doubt, but it's the ability to do something that is scary. I have a challenge for everyone, which is the second idea is to take this week the comfort zone challenge or the courage zone challenge. And what I mean by that is, you know, seven day challenge to your courage zone. And that means, you know, doing something every single day that's a little scary. And again,

it only takes 20 seconds of courage to step outside of your comfort zone into your courage zone. I like this quote by Eleanor Roosevelt, who said, do one thing that scares you every day. Yeah, that's another good one. I love her quotes. So it could just be something small, like choosing to eat better this week every single day or, you know, at work choosing to make the phone call that you really need to. Or get out there with your message more than you need to. Something every single day is going to help you build your courage muscle. That 20 seconds of courage quote is something that I look back on and think about a lot. A lot of times when you're getting on stage in front of a huge crowd, you're like,

Man, if I could just get started, I'll be okay. You'll be fine. You're always nervous about those things. But it's like, if I just get going, then I'll be okay. You'll be fine. And so yeah, you're always nervous about those things. But it's like, if I just get going, then I'll be okay. And that's a great way to look at those and kind of take that 20 seconds. It's not very long. Get outside your comfort zone and into that courage zone. How do we summarize this whole conversation today then?

I would say high performers are those who are working to reach their greater potential. They know that growth happens outside their comfort zone and their courage zone. And they act with courage and bravery. They play big. They do things that are sometimes uncomfortable. They take risks, try new things, and they live a life with grit and continually pursuing their dreams. Awesome. And an affirmation is something that we like to pass along every Monday. It shows up also on social media and on Cindra's website. We'll give you all the info on that in a second. But what is this week's affirmation? I choose my courage zone over my comfort zone.

I will play big, try new things, and act with courage and bravery. I get comfortable being uncomfortable. Nice. All right. So if we do want to get those affirmations, we want to follow along with what you're posting on Twitter and on Facebook and through the website and all of that. What's the best way for us to start all of that?

Best way is to go to DrCindra.com and you can find that all there. Have some great podcasts. I posted again this week. So one of the most popular so far is Ben Newman. I just posted on Friday. A lot of buzz about him. He worked with North Dakota State Bison football the last five years. He won the national championship.

Tons of positive energy and excitement. Awesome. I've got a couple stacked up I've got to get to and listen to. And I've got to be honest with you, I was relying a lot yesterday on that whole 40% thing we talked about last week. Nice. Because I was out for a long run and it was warm, even early in the morning. And I thought, man, am I struggling? And I thought, I'm struggling, but I'm really only using 40% of what I'm capable of doing.

Doesn't that make you think twice? I just kept shuffling along. I used the respond, not react last week. It's one of the videos. I had to voice my opinion on something that I thought, well, just why bother? Just keep quiet. And I'm like, nope. Yep.

I thought about it. Yep. And yeah. Nice. Good stuff going on there. And it was uncomfortable and it was good. Starting to work on us. So hopefully our listeners are following along too.

DrCindra.com is a place to go to get updates and the podcasts and the social media, all of that. C-I-N-D-R-A for those that don't know. Thank you very much. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I'll see you up at camp in a little bit, I suppose. I'll see you up at camp. All right, sounds good. Cinder Kampoff with us today for High Performance Mindset

every Monday morning on The Best Country, Minnesota 93. Thank you for listening to High Performance Mindset. If you liked today's podcast, make a comment, share it with a friend, and join the conversation on Twitter at Mentally Underscore Strong. For more inspiration and to receive Sindra's free weekly videos, check out DrSindra.com.