Title:  Expand your Comfort Zone

I.                   Attention Step: Definition by Carly Fiorina, (president of HP) “In bullfighting there is a term called querencia. The querencia is the spot in the ring to which the bull returns. Each bull has a different spot, but as the bullfight continues, and the animal feels more threatened, it returns to his spot more often.
As he returns to his querencia, he becomes more predictable. And so, in the end, the matador is able to kill the bull because instead of trying something new, the bull returns to what is familiar. His comfort zone.” Lets call it the Bull Zone.

II.                Need Step: The problem is, we are all guilty of living in our comfort zone. The longer we live in this zone the smaller the zone gets. —What is your comfort zone? Is it you home, your relationships, or your favorite food? Maybe it’s your community, the friends that you hang out with everyday. It is, on the other hand, healthy to have a comfort zone but it can be rewarding to have a larger comfort zone.

III.             Satisfaction Step: What I would like everyone to do is to expand their comfort zone. Brian Tracy (television host) said, “You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.”

IV.            Visualization Step: Expanding your comfort zone is an important skill and a skill that builds other skills. These skills will help you through the most difficult times in your life. Examples of skills that can spawn off expanding you comfort zone: patience, understanding and relating to people, communication skills. Like other things in life, you get out of it what you put in it. Now you may be wondering, where do I start?

V.               Action Step: There are 2 ways, Baby steps and bullfighter steps. A baby step would be to try new things that are around you already. This may require some thinking and research. Examples: Baby steps 1.Go to the most exotic food section at Wal-Mart and pick something to eat that you do not know anything about. Eat it. 2. Change your T.V. time for activities. Learn Judo, take up hiking, volunteer at the nursing home. 3. Talk to someone that you normally wouldn’t talk with. Bullfighter Steps 1. Take the money that you were saving for the flat screen T.V and drive as far as you can. Stay gone until your money runs out. Travel the country, stay at hostels and mom-n-pop hotels. 2. Join the peace corp. 3. Drink beer with Indians under the bridge in Seattle. (Not that I drink beer under bridges with Indians.) What I do not want you to do is hold yourself back.

VI.            Conclusion: I will end with a quote by Dale Carnegie (American author) “One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.” Enjoy the roses and stay out of the Bull Zone.

VII.           Resources: Carly Fiorina, (president of HP), Brian Tracy (television host), Dale Carnegie (American author).