Move Out of Your Comfort Zone

If you want to be more adventurous in your thinking then be more adventurous in your activities. Deliberately push yourself out of your routine. Try things that you do not normally try. Do things that you have never done before. Do things that scare you. Most people operate in a comfortable rut. Here are some ideas for pushing you out of your rut.

* Take salsa dancing lessons

* Try a new sport.

* Drive a different route to work every day for a month.

* Learn to knit.

* Read some special interest magazines that you have never read before.

* Perform in a karaoke bar.

* Go to an art gallery.

* Go on a flower arranging course.

* Learn a foreign language.

* Join an amateur dramatic society and act a minor part in a play.

* Help in a charity shop.

* Become a prison visitor.

* Talk to somebody new every day. Listen to them carefully.

The same philosophy applies to your business. We tend to hide behind old mottos like:

Stick to the knitting. Or

Focus on your strengths. Or

Don't try to be all things to all men

These can be excuses for staying within our corporate comfort zone. It is by trying new activities that we gain new experiences and skills. If we keep doing the same things we learn very little.

Nokia was originally a small Finnish wood pulp company. Nokia diversified many times. They tried all sorts of different things. At one time they made rubber boots. Now they are one of the world's leading providers of mobile phones.

Virgin group started as a record label. Richard Branson has led countless diversifications. Many experiments have failed but they have established businesses in areas such as trains, airlines, books, cola, etc.

If we as individuals need a good push to get us out of our comfort zones then unwieldy organisations need a mighty shove. It takes guts and determination to try new business initiatives in areas outside our core competence. This is what Lou Gerstner did when he turned around IBM. Gerstner was brought in as CEO to halt the slide as the giant corporation lumbered towards irrelevance and oblivion. He took many deliberate and highly symbolic steps to change the company's culture and to turn it away from a dependence on products to become a leader in computer services.

If you want to succeed at a personal or organisational level then you need to continually challenge yourself. Keep trying something new.

Paul Sloane is an expert facilitator on strategy and innovation workshops

http://www.destination-innovation.com