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The best way to stretch your comfort zone
At yoga class today, I heard something that reminded me of what new entrepreneurs go through.
We were doing an exercise that was designed to open up our hip joints. First, we went through a movement that contracted the same muscles that we would stretch a moment later.
The instructor said that the joints would be willing to loosen up more after they felt their strength.
When you start a business, you are called upon to stretch your comfort zones quite a bit, especially if you came from a more structured environment such as a corporate job or a professional service.
A lot of entrepreneurship is about experimentation: finding your “winning formula” in business involves experimenting and testing to find the market you are meant to serve, the products or services that they want, and the marketing that does the best job at reaching them.
Any scientist will tell you that you need to have an open mind when you test, so entrepreneurs need to be willing to loosen up and be flexible.
That’s hard to do if you’re full of rigid assumptions, expectations, or fear of failing.
According to the yoga exercise, you’ll be much more able to relax into finding your success formula if you first feel your strength. So how do you do that?
One way is to give yourself an opportunity to experience some small successes instead of banking exclusively on a grandiose project.
Another is finding ways to have some cash flow coming in during your start-up to keep having the experience of receiving money. That might mean keep the job for a while or finding contract work.
Yet another is to interact with at least one person who will remind you how competent you are when you start doubting yourself, and do it in such a way that you believe it rather than think they’re just saying it because they love you. That often means that it’s best to not rely solely on family or close friends, but to have a mastermind buddy, mentor or coach.
Finally, helping others is a surefire way of feeling better about your value to the world. That might mean being involved in community work, or just lending a hand to friends.
What does that have to do with you business? Lots, because as an entrepreneur, you are your business and if you feel better, you’ll do much better.
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Comments
Great post, Helene. I appreciate your inclusion of small steps as a way to experience successes. It is easy to forget how much we can affect our experiences and our perspective by tweaking our choices and our expectations. Right there, we hold so much power! Thank you for sharing your insights!
Awesome. It is so helpful to come from a position of strength rather than feeling overwhelmed. Your tips were most helpful creating a successful experience. Alice
I liked your Yoga analogy for moving beyond our comfort zone. Tighten first than stretch – even every small step requires a bit of tightening before doing it. I am looking forward to reading more of your articles.
Kristina
Great post! I remember how intimidated I felt when I left the corporate world 15 years ago. I became an expert at second-guessing myself. Touching base with your strength does make all the difference.
Thanks, Helene!
Wow! Thank you for the good examples of how to realize we truly are strong. I especially like the suggestion of helping others. When we volunteer, we can feel strength and also build compassion while doing something valuable. Nice article!