3 Things Leaving "Familiar" Taught Me

As a youngster, I was painfully shy. I can remember playing a basketball game in the schoolyard, and overhearing someone asking a friend, "is that guy a deaf mute, he never says anything"? I guess I was a pretty quiet dude.

As shy as I was, my attraction for success at whatever I did (or maybe it was fear of failure) was always a bit stronger than my desire to be in my comfort zone. Fortunately, I had parents who detected this dynamic, and seem to always place me in situations where I had to stretch myself:

-Instead of signing up for soccer at the neighborhood park with all the other 8 yr olds on my block, I was signed up for full contact football across town in the tougher neighborhood

-Instead of playing little league sports with kids my age, Dad would regularly sign me up to play with kids 2-3 years older.

-Instead of remaining at my neighborhood school and being in top percentile of my class academically, I was put on a bus for an hourlong drive, to participate in the top public school curriculum in the city (where I suddenly found myself at the bottom percentile of the class). 

The list of examples go on and on throughout my childhood, and in many cases I didn't like them. But these early life experiences taught an overly self concious , shy kid 3 important lessons:

1) It 's okay to walk on the edge of my comfortzone. In fact, this is where I grew the most.

2) Don't worry about whether I am better than someone else, but never stop focusing on maximizing my abilities. I learned to ignore what was beyond my control, and things simply took care of themselves.

3) By making simple improvements day in and day out, I would find myself far exceeding what I initially thought I could never accomplish.

What is that one thing you've been putting off that you know  will improve your business? Today, take a step into "unfamiliar" and make a commitment to taking that action.

Focusing on making small improvements --every day--will allow you to reach your goals far quicker, easier and with less stress than any other method.

To Your Success!