Comfort Zone...Guest Blogger Vicky Burnett!

I've been bugging the amazing Vicky Burnett, Life Coach, to write a post for all you women that know you need to get out of your comfort zones but are feeling 'stuck' in your safe place! This goes out to the women currently doing my Body & Lifestyle Transformation program who are pushing themselves to that place that feels 'icky' at first, but will get easier as they practise being there! 

I love Vicky's witty and honest approach with her clients, and I'm hoping she will become a regular contributor for Mom on the Glow and maybe make an appearance for a future workshop or two:) Vicky, take it away!:

Ahhhh, Comfort Zone, how I love thee.

You, my dear Comfort Zone, are so familiar and I know you so well. You are like the bestest of best friends. You don’t ask anything of me. You don’t push me to do things I don’t want to do. We get to do the same things over and over and over and over again. It’s just so easy. You don’t encourage me to do anything new. You just keep enticing me back to do the same old comfortable stuff.

WAIT……..What?.......WTF! (the F stands for “fiddlesticks”, of course).

Does your comfort zone have a hold on you like Sirens on Sailors?

Ladies, we know a guy can be “hook, line and sinkered” by a pretty face, but we can do better than that!

Life today is extremely busy. If you spent a few minutes thinking about the last time you were out of your comfort zone, I’m willing to guess that it was quite possibly for somebody else – kids, boss, parents – we acted because of someone else’s needs.

How often do you get out of your comfort zone to move forward for YOU? And I don’t mean a toe-dipping, test of the waters, “I’ll try” – no, I mean “I’m doing this” with the taxi-cab that drops you off in the land of new experience and discomfort and high tails it out of there before you can reach for the door handle to get back in. Like it or not you are spending time here.

Don’t rush to call your taxi-cab just yet, as there is work to be done before taking that ride.

Firstly, get clear on the reason to leave your comfort zone. Clarity on this is so important.

These are the questions to ask yourself;

What do I really want?

What is important about this for me?

In a small little acorn nutshell the honest answers to those questions should get you shooting in the right direction.

WAIT……..What?........WTFiddlesticks!

“Why does it suddenly feel like I am stuck in mud?”

“I just did the work of figuring out what I want and why. I was soooooo motivated and now I can’t move, stuck, immobilized (why did I ever consider leaving my comfort zone?)”

That “B*****” of a friend “Motivation” just deserted you (the B is for Bestie – of course – no, really – count the *’s).

I’m sorry that “B” deserted you but she probably saw the big Mo Fo coming (I’m sure you’re guessing these by now, Mo Fo is short for Monster Fobia – oops, silly me, spelling mistake, anyways, I digress…)

So, for simplicity we’ll go ahead and acknowledge that FEAR just turned up, raised its ugly head, and scared the heebie-jeebies out of all good intentions and motivation and had you ready to bolt back to the cab and “step on it” back to your comfort zone.

Fear = BIG topic, but for now we’ll just shine on some highlights:

• Fear is good. It’s giving you information. Excluding life endangering fears, most of the other fears get woken up when you are embarking on something important. It’s a good indicator to pay attention and stay committed to what is important to you.
• Brendon Burchard has a great podcast about fear. In short, he says our 3 types of fear are

• Fear of The Loss – you fear losing comfort / familiarity of where you are now.

The remedy being – remember what you will gain.

• Fear of The Process – you fear the pain of change.

The remedy being – reframe the change as a challenge. One that will help you grow and change for the better.

• Fear of Outcome – you fear that the grass won’t be greener on the other side.

The remedy being – focus on good outcomes and success.

It takes the same effort to have good thoughts as it does bad ones…….once you have re-trained yourself.

Set your destination to success and be purposeful in setting yourself up for success with tools like visualization, positive thinking (it’s not just kooky, it works), accountability, planning and scheduling, and asking yourself good questions.

I believe, very much, in the power of a good question.

Reconnecting to the importance of your goal and asking yourself “What will get me closer to my goal?” will make your mind search for answers instead of relying on routine and habits.

Now, I don’t want to bog you down with too much info but another sneaky being to keep an eye on is your critic. The voice in your own head that is a Royal “B” (and this time it’s not your “Bestie”)!

Your critic is not evil. She just wants to keep you safe in the comfort zone. The critic is a big self-development area but what I use as a quick fix is to tell her, when she’s poo-pooing my inspiring thoughts, that I’m grateful for her concern but that I can handle this. I got me some big girl underwear that I’m putting on and you, my dear critic, can hang out in my comfort zone. I will visit occasionally. Be good while I’m gone. Love you.

And that, my friends, is my nutshell version on these great topics of the Beasties (oops, did I say Beasties, I meant Besties – mwahahahaha).

I’d love to hear how you are getting out of your comfort zones. Keep me posted.

Vicky Burnett is a CTI certified Life Coach. Vicky coaches women to put themselves back on their priority list. She has a passion for psychology and self development which is amplified by the fact she is a mother of 3 girls.

Her wish for her girls, and people in general, is to know yourself, practise self responsibility, be aware of your impact on others and the world, be happy, be courageous and keep growing and experiencing new things.

Vicky can be found at www.vickyburnett.com and on facebook at 

https://www.facebook.com/momsofteengirls