Step outside of your comfort zone
Written by The Arena & Illustrated by Georgia Baldassarra
Published 27th July 2021
In order to gain confidence, you need to get comfortable being uncomfortable and start spending some time just outside of your comfort zone.
We came to this conclusion because none of us are confident by nature, we often find it hard to put ourselves out there, both in our professional and personal lives. It’s only been in the last year that we can hand on heart say, our confidence has grown, because we’ve stepped outside of our comfort zone, been vulnerable and challenged ourselves to do the things we once feared.
Yay to us, but what we really want to share is how you can actually put this into practice.
So, how do you step outside of your comfort zone and gain that long awaited spark of confidence?
Identify your comfort zone
The best place to start is by reflecting on your past experiences. Think of times you’ve felt a bit too comfortable, cruising perhaps, a time when you could have pushed yourself a little harder. Now think about another time where you felt uncomfortable, you were about to take a risk but right at the last moment, bailed (like Ben has just before going on a date).
Not sure why we’ve got you thinking about this stuff? Well, that’s because we tend not to dwell on these experiences, because in all honesty they’re not our proudest moments. However, reflecting on these moments and asking ourselves why we reacted the way we did may shed some light on where exactly your comfort zone is.
Take baby steps
Now that you’re more aware of your own comfort zone and have identified your current boundaries and limits, you can start making a note of your fears and formulate an action plan to go tackle them.
The important thing here is to start small, take one step at a time, starting with the least scary. For us, it was our first interview. We’d never interviewed anyone before, so the baby step was actually just reaching out to see if they would be interested, and running the risk of being completely ghosted, before we even freaked out about the interview itself. When you break it down bit by bit, it’s not so scary!
Nurture your craft
Probably the biggest contributor to feeling confident, is knowing your shit. This doesn’t mean being an expert or having years of experience, but knowing enough that you feel prepared for the task at hand. Spend the time building up whatever information you think you might need, on top of what you already know.
We’re all learning our craft, whether you’re still on that first YouTube tutorial, or teaching others. We never stop learning, and the things you don’t know should be seen as an opportunity to grow.
Fail to plan, plan to fail
That good old saying (and awesome poster by Chris Clarke. Fingers crossed you’re now feeling ready to take the next step. You’re not far so don’t turn back now.
Whatever your next challenge is going to be, prepare for it. If it’s an interview then do your research on the company, if it’s a talk then rehearse it or if it’s sending your first project proposal then run your draft via a few people before hitting send.
Now step out!
You’ve got this far, so you may as well do it! Having taken the steps prior to this moment, you’ve turned what was once a fear into nerves, and those are very different things. Nerves are the key identifier for stepping out of your comfort zone, if you’re not feeling them, you’re not there yet.
The truth is, there’s nothing left to do, you know your behaviours better than before, you’ve honed in on the fear, gathered the knowledge and prepared for the challenge. So, just do it. (sorry Nike, I couldn’t think of anything better).
Here’s an example from us…
We’ve attended quite a few design events (pre-pandemic) and 90% of the time, don’t speak to anyone or ask questions in fear of sounding stupid. So, we set ourselves the challenge to speak to at least one other person (each other didn’t count).
The nerves kicked in there’s no denying that, but we committed to it. Speaking to one person gave us the confidence to speak to another, then another. And then that magical moment happens when one of those conversations lands you a dream opportunity.
Now granted, that's probably the best outcome you’ll get and we can’t guarantee it’ll happen, but we can guarantee you’ll meet fantastic people, potential collaborations and a bag full of confidence.
The opportunity was for Dom to volunteer at the London Centre for Book Arts with Simon Goode, who he met at a talk at St Brides.
