What does it really mean to grow outside you comfort zone?

We have all heard the saying, “growth occurs outside the comfort zone”, but what does this really mean? Is it that in order to grow we need to be uncomfortable, does it mean we need to do scary things or things we have never done before?

Some of these things are true but I think the real crux of this statement comes down to discipline and choosing our purpose over pleasure.

Purpose is that which is our highest calling, what we are compelled and drawn to doing. The thing that when we are doing it, we are in our flow and really feeling like we are making a difference. And for many of you reading, that is chiropractic.

Pleasure is those short-term dopamine hits, the fun stuff that has no lasting benefit. This could be anything from eating chocolate and not being true to our health regimes, all the way up to adultery or even going on warm and fuzzy seminars that make us feel good but do nothing to accelerate our purpose.

The latter is what I want to discuss today.

2023 is around the corner and you have a choice to thrive, survive or fail. Now because you are reading this, I am going to guess you want to thrive.
First let’s consider where you are today, are you on the path of thriving, honestly? Or are you steadily moving through good and average times in your life and business. Be really honest with yourself. Are you as good as you could be?

Deepen this question by asking yourself, are you really chasing and following your purpose or are you pretending to win but really giving into pleasure? I certainly have been guilty of this so let me describe what that looks like.

I have a busy and what most would class as a successful practice, I have a great family and home, I appear to have great health as well as a coaching and property business. Now I can flex that, and I don’t say any of it to impress you. And as much as I flex it, you could all think ‘wow’ he is really achieving something.
However, the only person who can know this is me. Am I really achieving all I could, from a 360 success from family to faith and finances to health.
And the truth was, I was not. A lot of the success was surface and a flex. Because I knew I could do more, I could spend more time with family, I could have a greater bottom line on the business, I could acquire more properties.

But let’s not get hung up on me, let’s think about you.

Are you striving for your purpose, are you giving all you can to be as good as possible, or are you giving into pleasure.

To make this simple, I would like to break down your life into 4 areas for self-inspection, with the aim that you can really step yourself up and commit to being as much as you can and achieving all that you wish in 2023.

1.       Family
-are you giving your time and energy to your family and your relationships. Are you listening and sharing as you should?

2.       Faith
-what is your faith, are you trusting in the processes that happen, are you learning from mistakes and teachings? Or are you bullishly pushing forward?

3.       Finances
-do you know where they are? Are you committing to the main business and leveraging that for wealth or are you chasing the shiny objects?

4.       Health
-as a chiropractor you are a health leader? Are you leading by example or just ‘trying’ and making excuses not to be your best.

Some of this you will take well, some you will be irritated by. My suggestion is to ask yourself why you are irritated on being called out?

Take ownership and thrive.

With love

Tom