How To Get Out Of Comfort Zone- 25 Simple Ways

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In this article, we’ll surf through how to get out of your comfort zone and why it’s a better option than lazing around.

No matter how stagnant, our comfort zone feels safe, secure, and steady— we’d rather sit and watch the day go by than take action. Before you go ahead and judge yourself into misery for being lazy, please know that it’s normal.

It’s normal to take the cover of your comfort zone when life gets hard— quite frankly, life’s hard most of the time. Through thick and thin, you can say our comfort zone is a beautiful pause— to rest, re-energize, rediscover, recollect, and sail again.

Consider life to be a fierce ocean— untamed and unforgiving, and you are either a sailor or a pirate. You can choose to drown in it, or you can choose to befriend the ocean and become just as fearless and fierce.

“The roar doesn’t scare you; it excites you. The waves don’t terrify you; they challenge you. The unsteady ship doesn’t sway you; it makes you dance. In other words, being a pirate is cooler.”

Being in your comfort zone is good when it’s a short pause. However, it becomes an issue when that pause transforms into stagnation— stagnation ceases growth, new opportunities, and discoveries and stops us from witnessing the beauty of life.

So, be the pirate of your ocean— take the lead, embrace the unfamiliar, explore the undiscovered, and welcome new possibilities. As someone who has repeatedly gone through the same slump, I’d like to tell you that it’s not difficult to get out of your comfort zone, and we’ll let you know why in these 25 simple ways.

How to get out of comfort zone— 25 simple ways

“We are so accustomed to the comforts of

• ‘I cannot,’
• ‘I do not want to,’
• And ‘It is too difficult.’

That we forget to realize when we stop doing things for ourselves and expect others to dance around us, we are not achieving greatness. We have made ourselves weak.”

—Pandora Poikilos

Everyone gets stuck in their comfort zone, but the ones who decide to get out of it achieve a lot. Do you know why?

Because even if it’s comfortable, it can be limiting. Restriction of your personal growth and abilities can ruin you and your life.

In this article, we’ll talk about—

• What does comfort zone mean?
• What does being stuck in a comfort zone mean?
• Ways to get out of your comfort zone
• Going from comfort zone to growth zone,
• Benefits of leaving the comfort zone,
• Inspiring comfort zone quotes and FAQs.

What does comfort zone mean?

Psychologists conclude a ‘comfort zone’ to be a state of mind where one practices maintaining safe boundaries to avoid risk or strange events.

Scientifically,

“The comfort zone is a behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk.”

In other words, your comfort zone is simply a place where you feel comfortable with your daily routine, habits, and limits. In this state, your progressive graph remains at a plateau.

People who desire to live in their comfort zone usually take minimal risks and receive minimal rewards.

The ship will sail unsteadily until you’re in your comfort zone, but to reach the shore— you must take the risk and get out of your comfort zone.

Such is the case with life. With minimum effort and risk, you wouldn’t be able to maximize your potential and value.

Going from comfort zone to growth zone

Here’s what your life looks like when you are in your comfort zone and when you are in your growth zone. So, choose for yourself, and choose wisely.

25 simple ways to get out of your comfort zone

1. Write down your fears

Fear makes us stay put, fear makes us quit, and fear makes us doubt our decisions. So, we choose to stay in our comfort zone to avoid failure and trepidation.

“Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” —William Shakespeare.

Do you know why cowards die before their death? Because they fear—

• They fear what’s yet to come.
• They fear the unpredictable future.
• They fear starting anything new alone; the risk of failure is their first thought— they cannot bear society’s stress and pressure.

What’s yet to come is uncertain, and that’s probably the beauty of life; it’s mesmerizingly unpredictable. You don’t want to live the same day every day, which is why life is full of ever-changing surprises.

Of course, there would be an entanglement of bad and good surprises. However, both would benefit you if you perceive it that way.

A good surprise/outcome will motivate you. A lousy surprise will teach you and provide you a direction for future events. Without failure, you would never grow. So, instead of fearing defeat, learn from them and try to fail as often as possible.

The first way to get out of your comfort zone is to know what’s stopping you from evolving. Writing down your thoughts will help you understand your feelings more clearly.

To work on it, list all the fears and overcome them individually.

2. Compare the probability of the outcomes

Suppose you are scared of taking a decision because it might backfire. In situations like these, compare the possibility of it being a success or disaster.

While coming up with the data, be practical and analytical. Here’s a great example:

Comfort zone: You work a 9-5 job to support yourself and your family. The job pays you well, and you are financially stable. However, the job is boring, limiting, restricting, and not very creative. It doesn’t enhance your mind nor boost your adrenaline.

Uncomfortable zone: You choose to quit your job to pursue your passion. The initial unemployment may push you financially down. Still, your heart would beat louder because you’d be doing something you are passionate about.

What would you choose? Financial stability or your passion?

It’s better to invest your time strategizing a bullet-proof game to pursue your dreams than to sit ideally and fear failure.

3. Believe you can

“Anything that you believe you can do strong enough, you can do. Anything! As long as you believe.” —Bob Ross.

People don’t give enough credit to manifestation; you can manifest literally everything you desire. It might sound bizarre, but I did delay my train by manifestation. If I can delay the train, you can definitely believe in yourself enough to make things come to reality.

Who will do it for you if you don’t believe in yourself? So, don’t wait for the world to believe in you; believe in yourself daily. Every morning when you wake up, tell yourself that “I can.”

Listing out everything you want to achieve is a great way to visualize something you’re capable of in the future. So, stop stressing it already and start believing in it.

4. Don’t overthink

“Overthinking: The art of creating new problems that weren’t even there.” 

I get it, we are humans, and it’s normal to rethink our decisions and actions. It’s also normal to question ourselves from time to time.

• “What if I fail?”
• “What if I cannot do it?”
• “People will laugh at me,”
• “It’s too difficult for me,” and the list continues.

It’s good to think, but overdoing it will never do any good; it will only cause damage.

• Don’t overthink every decision. Instead, invest time in strategizing your decision.

“Overthinking is often a product of underdoing.” —Yehuda Berg.

It wastes time, effort, and mental energy. You will exhaust your mind before ever putting your body to work. So, before you finish yourself with problems that don’t exist, invest time in actually doing the deed— you can overthink it later.

I won’t say ‘go with the flow,’ instead, make your thoughts flow in the right direction.

5. Write down your goals 

Bring the excitement in your life, and prepare a list of all the long-term and short-term goals to filter out things. As said, you’re 42 percent more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down, and the rest of 58 percent? You make it happen. 

6. Don’t sabotage yourself every time

“The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake— you cannot learn anything from being perfect.”
—Adam Osborne.

It’s normal to make mistakes, and it’s normal to fall down while learning how to walk; that’s what makes your journey worthwhile. People don’t make movies on effortless success; they make movies about your struggles and how you outlive them.

So, be the star of your movie, fall down, make mistakes, make some more, and fall down again, but don’t stop, don’t stand still, and don’t bore yourself.

At the end of the day, you’re only human, and mistakes happen, but the important thing is to learn from that experience and move on.

7. Be around people who take risks

You want to be around people who laugh when they fall and smile when they make mistakes— those people will inspire you to fall, laugh, make mistakes, and smile.

They will teach you:

• How to be bold?
• when to concern yourself with worries
• How to worry less?
• and when to say, let’s just do it!”

Risk takers get a thrill and an adrenaline rush when they take risks because they have learned— opportunities don’t come by; you have to steal them!

8. Baby steps

Of course, you cannot transform suddenly. So, go as slow as you’d like to go! “If you concentrate on small, manageable steps, you can cross unimaginable distances.”

Every step is essential and counts a ton— even when it’s a little progress, it is still progress.

You might think that you are still far away but remember, you are closer to it than you were yesterday. Acknowledge that very fact and continue to take baby steps.

9. Reframe your fear into excitement

“The fear of failure or the excitement of success?” What would you choose? Or, more importantly, what should you choose?

Where fear would set you back, excitement would motivate you ahead! 

Here’s an example:

“I fear going to the new college because everything would be so new.”

On the other hand, if you switch your anxiety into excitement, here’s what you will find:

“I’m excited because I’m going to a new college. I’ll meet new people, make friends, learn something new, and live my youth passionately.”

What sounds more desirable?

We often believe that we cannot change our perception, but in reality, it’s very much plausible.

10. Build up confidence 

“Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory.”

—Diane Arbus

People often achieve their goals because they are confident enough to trust and believe in their qualities.

11. Go out

Our home is our comfort place; we can lie around, do nothing all day, and sink into that same comfort zone we wish to get out of. As someone who has spent two years straight in the house, I know how unproductive and habitual it can get.

Life gets limiting, boring, and dull when you repeat the same daily routine. You wake up, pet your dogs, clean the house, eat, work, and sleep. You may dance alone sometimes, but it would still be the same four walls.

While it’s good, it’s also addicting— that safe place is addicting. It stops you from going out and witnessing what the universe has to offer.

In fact, some even skip meals, bathing, basic hygiene, and self-love when sitting around the house.

Break the cycle, get out of your comfort zone, and enjoy life outside. It may sound uncomfortable, but trust me, life’s beautiful out there.

If you don’t usually go out, then try this out. Call up a few friends or people you haven’t met in ages and go for a long ride, clubbing, a date, or anything that would make you happy.

Try to do something different from your daily routine to have a little discomfort and fun in your life.

12. Shift your identity

How do you see yourself?

Do you generally consider yourself as someone who doesn’t like to take risks? Well, shift that perception. How you perceive yourself determines your beliefs and your actions.

• Perceive yourself to be fearless
• So, perceive yourself as someone willing to walk an extra mile to get better at life!
• Perceive yourself as someone solid and persistent.
• Tell yourself that you are a doer more than a procrastinator.

That’s how you shift your identity— not by others’ perception but by your own. So, identify yourself as a confident person!

I’m not asking you to change your identity but to shift it a little. Look for a positive approach to situations that deem you with negative thoughts. For instance, try to learn from constructive criticism rather than being offended by it. 

13. Prepare an uncomfortable list

What makes you uncomfortable?

• Going out in public?
• Cold showers?
• Making new friends?
• Giving public speeches?
• Being a team player?
• Talking to your crush?

It can be literally anything! Prepare a list of all the things that make you uncomfortable and try to accomplish them one by one. Split that list into three stages:

1. Doable: “These might be uncomfortable, but I can do it!”
2. Intermediate: These might require a little more effort; I’ll try!”
3. Difficult: “I can never do this!”

Start small, and shift your focus to possible things. Try 1-2 doable things every day to boost your confidence. Once a pro, shift to intermediate uncomfortable things and take baby steps.

Here’s an example: Suppose making new friends is intermediately uncomfortable for you.

You can start small by first making friends online and switching to real life. Sending friend requests > Liking pictures > commenting > texting a risky “Hi” or a creative conversation starter.

14. Learn new things every day

Learning new life skills will help you break the cycle of your comfort zone and distract you from your daily routine. Remember, nothing can stop you if you want to get out of your comfort zone. If you’re willing to learn, start it now.

• Start by reading books and newspapers, or by joining a library.
• Join online courses and then shift to offline classes.
• Join new classes that will pump your heart with adrenaline— dance, music, pottery making, craft, swimming, etc.

15. Change yourself mentally and physically

You need to work on both the changes— mental and physical— to get out of your comfort zone. Humans have the tendency to change physically but never mentally. We may be doing it all but still would be absent on the inside.

So, it’s time you train your brain along with the body.

When forcing yourself to wake up and do yoga, mentally teach yourself that it’s for your own good!

16. Level up your game

“In your spare time, you should constantly be growing, expanding your interests, and gaining expertise that will allow you an opportunity to flourish, not only in your field but in all aspects of your life.” —Germany, Kent.

“Don’t be all talks and no bites.”

Procrastination will prolong your comfort zone, reducing your potential, wasting time, and making you anxious. Stop wishing for things to happen; take the reins in your hands and get down to business.

17. Look at what’s outside of your comfort zone

Look at all the things you’ll miss if you stay longer in your comfort zone. Observe the things that are worth doing and start preparing for them already.

18. Get comfortable with discomfort

Instead of running away from it, expand it. Make it a goal to get comfortable with your discomfort. If you don’t usually stay longer in the gym, try to stay there a little longer and socialize with other people.

Anything that brings you discomfort, start doing it more often, and soon, it will begin to become less uncomfortable.

19. Learn from your failures

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.” —Nelson Mandela.

Many people fear failure because they have been trained to never fail. The ungodly expectations society throws at you ruin whatsoever growth you can achieve by failing. It’s time that you revolt against that perception.

Instead of saying, “I failed, I can never do this again.” Tell yourself—

• “Yes, I failed, but it taught me how to perform better next time.”
• “This failure made me realize where I was wrong; it taught me how to be right the next time.”

Giving up is easy; however, trying it again and again after failure is what separates successful people from the crowd. 

Know that failure is a teacher; it’s going to teach you. So, take exams and don’t leave until you finally succeed.

20. Ask yourself deep questions and provide yourself with an apt reason

Instead of saying, “I cannot!” Ask yourself, “Why can I not?”
“Can I truly not do this?”
“What would help me overcome this situation?”
“How can I overcome this situation?”

A great way to push yourself is to talk to yourself and ask frequent questions about “why you’re doing it,” “what’s stopping you,” “how badly you want it,” and so on.

“All the answers we seek lie within us.”

Writing down questions will automatically lead you to plausible answers. So, write down every query that stops you from trying, and it will work in your favor.

Not providing yourself with a valid reason will never help you get out of your comfort zone because it’s hard! So, give yourself a good reason whenever you try to get out of your comfort zone.

21. Be honest while you make excuses for yourself

How many times have you excused yourself out of a situation to get back to your comfort zone?

You don’t have to be honest to me, but you have to be fair to yourself. Every time you excuse yourself from an uncomfortable situation, write down the number and gradually try to reduce that figure week by week/month by month.

There will be many opportunities to challenge you, and if you make an excuse for it, there’s no growth coming your way. Don’t say, “I don’t have time for this,” but accept your fear of doing it.

Just be honest and move forward while accepting challenges. Try to be more honest and make things happen because excuses are nothing but a restriction to your growth and dreams.

22. Switch to a healthy diet

Putting healthy food in our diet will help us enhance our thinking and boost our brain power. There’s not a single disadvantage to a healthy diet, so start eating well and think good.

23. Limit the time in your comfort zones

Getting out of your comfort zone is not going to be easy and just won’t happen in a blink of an eye— you need to start it slow. Instead of forcing yourself to instantly get out of your comfort zone, take one move at a time.

What’s your routine? Cut the most unproductive activity you do in that routine that wastes time. In exchange, add a new productive hobby that will break your cycle of being in your comfort zone all day long.

Suppose your comfort zone is avoiding people by putting on headphones. Well, it’s time to let go of those headphones and be active in communication— interact, make eye contact, smile, and be present.

Next, start controlling the time you waste on your phone, laying down all the time, sleeping, and not getting out of the house.

24. Give yourself compliments

Be grateful for how far you’ve already come. These baby steps are worth every change that you’ve brought in yourself. Start praising yourself with kind words or massive treats.

Acknowledge the changes you have bought in your routine and tap your shoulders. Look at your accomplishments and be proud of all the courageous majors you took to achieve those peaks.

Learn from your achievements because they show that you still have the fight in you, that you have been courageous once, and you can be courageous again!

25. Sometimes, you have to be more impulsive than calculative

“Just do it!”

Put a stop to your calculations and simply take the first step— the rest will become history. “You don’t have to see the whole staircase; just take the first step.”

Psychologically speaking, you just need to do something once and see for yourself that it’s doable. The rest will come out naturally the next time!

Benefits of leaving the comfort zone

a) Confidence & self-esteem

Confidence is one of the most essential human needs. If you’re confident enough, you can achieve anything in the world. One of the best benefits you’ll get after leaving your comfort zone is confidence.

Getting out of your comfort zone will make you spontaneous and a calculative risk taker.

Life’s full of uncomfortable and unpredictable changes. You are training yourself to be more accepting of change by getting out of your comfort zone. Someone who accepts and expects changes will automatically develop a positive attitude and confidence toward the ever-changing life.

b) An upgradation in your life

Growth can be the most powerful feature a human can have in life because if you’re not growing, you’re dying. It’s essential to upgrade your life to reach the places of your dreams.

Getting out of your comfort zone will bring continuous changes to your life; these changes will always keep your life fresh, prompt, and fun!

c) Lowers the risk of depression

You can be depressed when you do nothing but overthink every situation. Someone wise said, “an empty brain is the devil’s house.”

15 Inspiring comfort zone quotes

1. “As you move outside of your comfort zone, what was once the unknown and frightening becomes your new normal.” —Robin S. Sharma.

2. “I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy; I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.” —Art Williams.

3. “The comfort zone is nothing but a graveyard for your dreams and ideas.” —Anonymous.

4. “You can choose courage, or you can choose comfort. You cannot have both” —Brene Brown.

5. “Feel the fear and do it anyway.”

6. “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.”

7. “The only thing that is stopping you from where you are to where you want to go is your comfort zone.” —Dhaval Gaudier.

8. “A ship is always safe at the shore, but that is not what it is built for.” —Albert Einstein.

9. “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.”

10. “Outside your comfort zone is the only place worth living.” —says Karina Bliss.

11. “Be brave enough to be bad at something new.”

12. “Are you really happy or just comfortable?”

13. “Comfort is your biggest trap, and coming out of your comfort zone is your biggest challenge.” —Manoj Arora.

14. “Life will only change when you become more committed to your dreams than you are to your comfort zone.” —Billy Cox.

15. “Face the fear, even if it’s only a tiptoe outside your comfort zone instead of a leap. Progress is progress.” —Annette White.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Question: What are examples of comfort zone?

• Not quitting a tedious job.
• Using the same rules to perform tasks even with more expert solutions.
• Refusing to go out for fresh air.
• Refusing to go to the gym.
• Not making an effort in your life, even if it’s going down the hill.
• Living alone instead of making friends
• Living alone instead of prioritizing social life.

Bottom line

“Don’t feel entitled to anything you didn’t sweat and struggle for.” —Marian Wright Edelman.

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