Getting Outside of Your Comfort Zone for Growth

Andy Molinski has written a thought-provoking article for HBR online called, "If You're Not Outside Your Comfort Zone, You Won't Learn Anything" that ties in nicely to this idea of stretching beyond our current abilities in order to grow capacity: Here are the first couple of paragraphs, with a link to the article online at the bottom:

You need to speak in public, but your knees buckle even before you reach the podium. You want to expand your network, but you’d rather swallow nails than make small talk with strangers. Speaking up in meetings would further your reputation at work, but you’re afraid of saying the wrong thing. Situations like these — ones that are important professionally, but personally terrifying — are, unfortunately, ubiquitous. An easy response to these situations is avoidance. Who wants to feel anxious when you don’t have to?

But the problem, of course, is that these tasks aren’t just unpleasant; they’re also necessary. As we grow and learn in our jobs and in our careers, we’re constantly faced with situations where we need to adapt our behavior. It’s simply a reality of the world we work in today. And without the skill and courage to take the leap, we can miss out on important opportunities for advancement. How can we as professionals stop building our lives around avoiding these unpleasant, but professionally beneficial, tasks?

First, be honest with yourself. When you turned down that opportunity to speak at a big industry conference, was it really because you didn’t have the time, or were you scared to step on a stage and present? And when you didn’t confront that coworker who had been undermining you, was it really because you felt he would eventually stop, or was it because you were terrified of conflict? Take an inventory of the excuses you tend to make about avoiding situations outside your comfort zone and ask yourself if they are truly legitimate. If someone else offered you those same excuses about their behavior, would you see these as excuses or legitimate reasons to decline? The answer isn’t always clear, but you’ll never be able to overcome inaction without being honest about your motives in the first place.

https://hbr.org/2016/07/if-youre-not-outside-your-comfort-zone-you-wont-learn-anything?utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

The Power of Full Engagement

Leaders Go Above And Beyond the call of duty!

As we dive into the study of The Power of Full Engagement (Schwartz & Loehr) managing ENERGY (not time), is the key to high performance!

Here are 4 key principles to remember:

Principle 1: Full engagement requires drawing on four separate but related sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual (p. 9)

Principle 2: Because energy capacity diminishes both with overuse and with underuse, we must balance energy expenditure with intermittent (regular) energy renewal. To maintain a powerful pulse in our lives, we must learn how to rhythmically spend and renew energy. (Quality space) (p. 11)

Principle 3: To build capacity, we must push beyond our normal limits, training in the same systematic way that elite athletes do. We build emotional, mental and spiritual capacity in the same way that we build physical capacity. (p. 13)

Principle 4: Positive energy rituals – highly specific routines for managing energy – are the key to full engagement and sustained high-performance. A positive ritual is a behavior that becomes automatic over time – fueled by some deeply held value. (p. 14)

Here is Tony Schwartz himself presenting the Power of Full Engagement concept (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg5HqGUD0xk

If you're interested in taking the Full Engagement Inventory online, click here:
http://www.performanceprograms.com/self-assessments/personal-development/energy-profile/

The essence of leadership is coming into your own on your own.  While others can prompt, support and guide, ultimately we take initiative to discover, dedicate, develop and deploy our full selves.