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The Comfort Zone
By Paul Lemberg, Wed Dec 7th
I have a friend named Gene, a serial entrepreneur who currentlyruns a software business. Like many people, last year was atough one for his company. They survived largely by providingadd-on services to existing customers - a decent response todifficult circumstances. They even grew revenues a bit. Buthere's something else that happened: They got comfortable. Theydecided they could exist on their base of customers, and thenthey "realized" there would be no new ones. Is that bad? Isn't that just accepting reality as it is? It might not be bad, except that Gene's people got used to theidea of "no new customers", and it stuck with them. They'vecontinued to draw revenues from this satisfied base, but leadgeneration and prospecting has remained almost nil. They are nowlooking at an empty pipeline, and unless things change soon, I'dsay the forecast for the future is not bright.
There is a state of mind I'd like to acquaint you with known asthe comfort zone. Perhaps you are already familiar with thisinsidious disposition. Did I say insidious? How can comfort beinsidious? You know, don't you. You get seduced by the status quo. You think things are prettygood the way they are. You like it this way, and you don'treally want anything to change. When I was a young pup atGeneral Electric we called this state of being "fat, dumb, andhappy". And after a while, your progress grinds to a halt. Comfort is defined as a condition or feeling of pleasurableease. You can become comfortable with all sorts of things - good andbad. You can become comfortable with your existing level ofbusiness - even if it is not quite as much business as you'dlike. You know how to handle it, you can keep your staff sizelevel - and you know how much profit you can earn from it. Or you can become comfortable with your sources of business -even when your niche is shrinking. After all, you understandthese types of customers. You know their personalities. You arefamiliar with how these particular people will react to yourideas. Isn't this great, you think. You can become comfortable with your competition - even if theyare bigger or more nimble or just plain better than you. Atleast you know where you stand, right? And since you think theirmoves are predictable, you perceive a measure of safety. And of course - as you can easily see - each of these situationsis fraught with danger. If not right now, then soon. What is so comfortable about the comfort zone? It goes all the way back to pre-history. Human beings likeregularity and predictability. Change is bad. Consider theexistence of a hunter-gatherer - living life in the wild - everychange in the weather...every change
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in the environment...everynew sound in the night...new people...new animals. Every onerepresents a mortal threat. As modern, civilized people, we still prefer it when thingsremain constant and stable. We've learned the right responses sowe feel adequate to the challenge. We know how to gauge ourefforts, so we don't have to work too hard for acceptableresults. And we can make predictions about the future, so wegenerally feel safe. And it just feels so good. The weird part is we can be comfortable even when we shouldn't. Look at Gene's company. These people got so used to otherssaying no to them, they just stopped looking for new business.At least it was something they understood, right? Wrong! Staying in the comfort zone will kill your business, just assurely as it will kill Gene's. Why? "My company isn't like his. Our business is sound", yousay. What's wrong with being comfortable, as long as it's the'good' kind of comfort? On the face of it, nothing. Except that things change. When you are in the comfort zone - that place of pleasurableease - it means you have accepted the status quo. You like it,and you hope things are going to remain just the way they are.You aren't changing with the changes. You aren't makingprogress. You have probably lost sight of your vision, and youare doing things you've done over and over and over... You've become fat, dumb and happy. And the precipice you are rushing towards is just out of sightaround the bend. What to do about these nice-feeling but dire circumstances? There are 5 steps to getting out of the comfort zone. One: Recognize that you are in the C-zone. Have you become used to the way things are? Have you stoppedpushing your business forward? Have you ceased looking for newopportunities? Have you given up taking new ground? Have youtaken your eye off the ball? Have you started to let certainthings - things that used to be important - slide? Have youbecome comfortable with your current circumstances? If you have more than one yes - or even one - you are probablyin the comfort zone. Two: Re-commit to your vision. Do you have a vision? Are you passionate about it? When was thelast time you thought about it? Is what you see in your futurethe place you really want to take your life? If you don't think you have a vision, or are no longer feelstrongly about the vision you have, then it's time to do somevision work. (See www.lemberg.com/articles.html for what to donext. Three: Set new goals and objectives. Where does your newly resurrected vision lead you? What goals doyou want to achieve along the way to realizing it? Be specific.Be concrete. (You don't have to do a whole strategic plan here -just get the motor running again.) Four: Examine the consequences If you remain in the comfort zone, what is likely to happennext? What are the consequences of you maintaining your personalor corporate status quo while the world around you changes? Bebrutally honest. If things truly look rosy, wonderful. Good foryou. But if they don't... Five: Time to take action The stuff that used to work, well it don't work now* In the end, the only thing that really makes a difference isaction. Whether you need a shift in what you do or a shift inwho you are, either way you need to take action for something tohappen. And you may not be used to action - you may have lostthe habit. Here's the short solution to busting out of the comfort zone:set five new actions which will move things forward. Pick one and execute it right away. Start today. The best timewould be as soon as you're done reading this. Then pick anotherand do that. And so on. It sounds simple - and it is! The hard part is lifting off thateasy chair and getting started. Things feel so good the way they are, don't they? Don't they? *Apologies to Warren Zevon. (c) Paul Lemberg. All rights reserved
About the author:Paul Lemberg is the president of Quantum Growth Coaching, theworld's only fully systemized business coaching programguaranteed to help entrepreneurs rapidly create More Profits andMore Life™. http://www.fastergrowthnow.com |