How you feeling these days —pretty comfortable?  And if not, then chances are you expend a great deal of effort trying to achieve the state of comfort.  Almost everyone does.

If you take a hard look at today’s mass media, the vast majority of it is geared to achieving greater levels of comfort, whether it be through food, a new car, Lazy-boy chair or the hammock that swings just outside my office door that is used almost daily.

There is nothing wrong with being comfortable.  In fact it is a state we all need from time to time otherwise we grow dull very quickly.  When “comfort” becomes our primary goal however, that is when it is no longer our friend.  It becomes a very deep rut from whose depths it can be very difficult to climb out of.

As human beings we are “hard-wired” to stretch and learn new things.  And when we don’t things can break down very quickly, be it your business, relationships or health…

I used to have a comfort zone where I knew I wouldn’t fail.  The same four walls and busywork were really more like jail.

Author Unknown (click here to read the whole poem)

Getting out of your comfort zone is easier said than done.  At first things feel awkward and very unsure.  Now there are two ways to look at this: a) “Ugh, this feels like I’m just starting over and I’ve been there, done that!”, or b) “I wonder what new things I’m going to learn and be able to do!”.  Perhaps the best way to think about “comfort” is that it’s a rest stop on the road of life, never the destination…