Stepping out of your comfort zone!

Just occasionally it's good to put yourself firmly out of your comfort zone, otherwise, how will you ever learn from new experiences? Last week, I placed myself so firmly out of mine, that it caused hot sweats, palpitations and even a sleepless night. You know when you sit bolt upright in bed and ask yourself 'what was I thinking agreeing to that?’ Well for me, this year has been intentionally a year of 'challenge the comfort zone'! 2011 was to be the year I turned 40 and I intended to make it one to remember. In January I decided that with three months until my birthday - I was planning a big vintage themed bash of course - I wanted to lose weight and go from a size 18 to a size 12/14. This involved entering a serious discomfort zone of intensive personal training and sensible eating. This discomfort zone became more and more comfortable, dare I say it rather enjoyable after a few weeks and I managed to break some really bad habits that were going to lead to a future of Ill health and unhappiness. I’m thrilled to report that the hard work paid off, and thanks to Lucy Rodmell of Starfish Personal Training www.starfish-pt.com I continued the good work and have made permanent life changes and feel better than I had done throughout all of my thirties!
The next comfort zone to be tackled head on was my job. I had enjoyed eight  very happy years with ABC Magazine and I still class Rachel, the editor as a good friend and I respect her and the ABC Magazine Empire enormously www.abcmag.co.uk . However, I had to address the urge I'd had for a few months of trying something new. I've always been in sales in one capacity or another and with my new 'extra' role as a Manager with the Mumpreneurs Networking Club (Chichester branch) www.agoodgossip.co.uk I had been mixing with lots of inspirational men and women who are all out there 'doing it for themselves'. Inspired by them, I decided to step out of my 'regular income' comfort zone and into the unknown, and with the total support of my husband, I decided to take the leap of faith, and immediately picked up clients for my new 'Dawn Gracie Sales Coaching' business. It seemed that my skills and knowledge were in demand and my new comfort zone was feeling very comfortable indeed.
Helping others in the quest to make their discomfort zones a more comfortable place is fantastic, I work one-to-one to identify areas of weakness in people’s sales processes and techniques and help individuals to overcome them in order to achieve better incomes for themselves. This however requires my clients to be prepared to admit to, and tackle their discomfort zones head on. Stepping out of a stagnant sales comfort zone and into a wonderful, challenging, exhilarating discomfort zone where growth and success can blossom and your business can become all you dreamt of.

Are you still wondering what I challenged myself with last week that led me to have a sleepless night and palpitations? Put it this way, it was nothing that a good photographer, a skilled makeup artist and good lighting couldn’t put right! Enough said.