So, we have reached the end of our twelve-part series of articles on “How To Leave Your Comfort Zone Behind Forever”. If you have not read the entire series of articles up to this point, I would encourage you to start from the beginning and not only read the articles but invest yourself by participating in this journey. Leave your own personal comfort zone! The wonder, the adventures, the experiences, and the life that awaits you outside of your comfort zone are as unimaginable to you as the future that awaits a child that has just taken their first step or spoke their first word. All that you ever wanted can be yours and all that you ever dreamed of can be your life. Thinking otherwise speaks to the limiting beliefs that are found nowhere else but in your own, personal comfort zone. To doubt this only proves how much of a prisoner of the comfort zone you still are.

But, for those that have embarked on the amazing, if sometimes scary, journey of leaving your comfort zone; you have already had a small taste of the fruits of your effort. You have already seen what is possible if you believe. Yes…believe that there is little if anything that is not within the reach of your grasp. Happiness, success, fulfillment, love, adventure, fame, fortune, or being able to own and enjoy the greatest asset one can ever acquire; your time and how you choose to spend it.

Living in the comfort zone can give the illusion of security and provide you with what can be perceived as a moderate amount of comfort. However, it will never afford you the luxury of being in control of the time we are gifted with in this reality in which we currently live. You can only enjoy that level of freedom when you are the one that your time is committed to. When you make the choice of what you wish to do with each minute, each hour, each day, and each year. To spend it not in trade for what someone wishes to pay you for it, but spend it with your loved ones, your child or children, your friends, your pet, or even your pet rock! You can spend it on your hobbies, your passions, your business, helping others, making absurd amounts of money, learning to play music, acting, getting to know yourself better through meditation, healing, or even in solitude. The point is when you don’t spend your time conforming to others’ expectations or obligations, you can spend it living how YOU choose to live. That is the joy of living outside the comfort zone. You are not conditioned, “educated”, indoctrinated, influenced, ordered, or forced to do anything that does not fit with your goals, your morals, your OWN beliefs, your ethics, and what is most important to you.

Not living in the comfort zone that so many are bound to gives you a clear perspective and allows you to live by a different standard. It allows you the freedom to be different and to be colorful in a world that is filled with black, white, and gray. Imagine being able to wake up on a Wednesday morning. You get up, get dressed, brush your teeth, style your hair, you get in your vehicle, and head off. A short time later you pull in to the parking lot and go inside to get started. What scenario does this suggest? A typical workday? Now let me skew your perspective a bit, shall we? Let’s look at this not from inside the comfort zone, but from quite a bit out of it.

Yes, it’s Wednesday morning and you wake up from a restful night’s sleep on a supremely comfortable bed. You didn’t wake up from an alarm clock, but instead, from your body clock letting you know that it was time to wake up because you have had enough rest. You get dressed, not into a suit, not into a dress, not into slacks and a nice shirt or blouse, unless that is what you want to wear today because you feel like it. Instead, you slip into whatever you feel like wearing. You take your time with grooming, preparing yourself for the day ensuring that you look and feel good. When you finish, you and your spouse (or significant other), and your children, get into the car and head out. Not to work, but out to the restaurant of your choice and have a nice, non-rushed, breakfast. When finished, for good measure, you decide to thumb your nose at the work-a-day world (being it’s now around 10:30AM) and take everyone to go bowling or catch the latest movie everyone’s been talking about. Afterwards, you head back to the office (your home office that is) and sit down to do a few hours of work on your business. By mid-afternoon you take a break and read more chapters in the personal growth book you’ve been working on. Then back at it for a few more hours before going through your email and planning out your day tomorrow. Then, taking that long commute down the hallway to do whatever you feel like for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow comes and you must do it again, but when you wake up you head to the gym for an early morning workout. Then after making it back home and getting a nice shower, you get an hour of meditation or personal time. Next is breakfast and then you write some more for your upcoming book OR work on the keynote speech you will be giving at the conference early next week. Come Monday, you fly out OR meet with your financial advisor on your upcoming investments OR head over to the Magic Kingdom to stroll down Main Street U.S.A for a day at WDW or Disneyland (for my fellow Disney fans) …that’s right it’s up to you! How’s that for living in a comfort zone. I’d be willing to bet that’s a heck of a lot bigger comfort zone than you have been living in (and it beats the heck out of morning traffic). But the secret is that isn’t “living in a comfort zone”, it is REALLY LIVING!

My point is this, living outside of the comfort zone brings only more options, not obligations. It brings more self-confidence by using your abilities and talents for your benefit. It allows for freedom to do what you are best at, not what’s best for someone else. It allows you to focus on what is most important to you! It also allows you to share the abundance you receive with causes and people that are important to you. Yes, being outside of your comfort zone can be scary at times, but so is anything worth doing. Life was never meant to be easy; it is meant to be worth it! Outside of the comfort zone is where risks & opportunities abide. It is where happiness & sadness is. It is full of excitement & disappointment, and it is full of peaks & valleys. Life is not meant to run a flat line…death is. So, if you are not really living life…

One thing to remember is that getting out of the comfort zone and staying out of it requires effort and vigilance. Stay focused, stay committed, and stay consistent and you will never again be bound by the constraints of the prison that was once your comfort zone.

Thank you for joining me in this series of articles on How To Leave Your Comfort Zone Behind Forever. Living outside of your comfort zone you will find unlimited opportunities, adventure, abundance, and happiness that comes from being free to pursue that which important to you and be who you were meant to be. Use what you have learned to help create the life that you have dreamed of living.

“Living in the comfort zone can give the illusion of security and provide you with what can be perceived as a moderate amount of comfort. However, it will never afford you the luxury of being in control of the time we are gifted with in this reality in which we currently live. You can only enjoy that level of freedom when you are the one that your time is committed to.”