Enemies – Josh OKELLO

“A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown.” —Denis Waitley

By Elizabeth Stincelli

Your Comfort Zone

Why break out of your comfort zone? You will never create anything new if you don’t stretch your boundaries and break out of the status quo. Getting out of your comfort zone allows you to see new possibilities and forge a new path to achieve your goals. Your life experiences are fuller and your horizons are broader on outside. You get to define who you are and how you view opportunity. Are you going to play it safe? Or, are you going to risk it all outside of your comfort zone?

Overcome Fear

Dan Stevens believed, “The comfort zone is the great enemy to creativity; moving beyond it necessitates intuition, which in turn configures new perspectives and conquers fear.” Don’t let fear prevent you from thinking in new ways and trying new things. You’ll be amazed at how resilient, capable, confident, and courageous you can become. Learn to let go of the need to be in total control. Step outside your comfort zone, set aside your fear, and try something totally different.

Welcome Challenge

R. Martinez said, “I’ve learned in my life that it’s important to be able to step outside your comfort zone and be challenged with something you’re not familiar or accustomed to. That challenge will allow you to see what you can do.” You possess a wealth of knowledge and experience. Trust this knowledge and experience to help you confront and overcome the challenges you will face outside your comfort zone. The satisfaction you receive from successfully prevailing in light of challenge allows you to create rewarding work. If you never feel uncomfortable you are limiting your possibilities and your growth. Embrace challenge; reframe your goals so they include learning new things and exploring new experiences.

Take risks

Edward Whitacre, Jr. told us, “Be willing to step outside your comfort zone once in a while; take the risks in life that seem worth taking. The ride might not be as predictable as if you’d just planted your feet and stayed put, but it will be a heck of a lot more interesting.” Let go of the idea of perfection; it is a concept that is unattainable and causes you to avoid risk. With risk, you face the chance of failure but, also the opportunity for great success. Visualize obstacles, see yourself overcoming them, and then take the risk. You may not always win, but you will always grow.

A New Normal

Robin S. Sharma explained, “As you move outside of your comfort zone, what was once the unknown and frightening becomes your new normal.” That which is scary will eventually become comfortable. You will open yourself up to amazing new experiences. You may even meet new people and develop new relationships. You are a work in progress. Break out of your comfort zone, face your fear, overcome the challenges, and take the risk; you’ll be glad you did.

Elizabeth Stincelli is passionate about recognizing and inspiring the leader in each of us. She is the CEO of Stincelli Advisors where she focuses on helping organizations engage employees and improve organizational culture. Elizabeth holds a Doctor of Management degree with an emphasis on organizational leadership.

Learn more about Elizabeth by visiting her website, stincelliadvisors.com and connect with her on Twitter @infinitestin, Google+, and LinkedIn. You can contact her by email at stincelliadvisors@gmail.com.

By Josh Okello

The biggest challenge that most entrepreneurs and other leaders go through is fear. Fear is a dragon, it can consume you in no time, it is scary, and looks like a giant. It can kill you before your time, It can hinder you from success despite the potentials you have of blowing the completion out of the water. Fear always comes in two forms; the fear of success and the fear of failure. The former can be worst and devastating while the latter is equally as bad and can hinder you from freely expressing your potentials. The question we need to ask ourselves is “how do we slay this dragon?” It does not matter what form of fear it is, what is important is growing out of it which can be achieved by doing the following.

Avoid Cynics

Some people and surprisingly a lot of them, will forever doubt your potentials. What you need to do is to repel them with facts and works. They are not worth your time so why pay attention to them. They will reduce you to a tiny particle and blow you away like dust.

One thing you need to know is that you are already in motion. You are reading this article because you are a snow ball rolling down from a mountain, ready to cause an avalanche. Sweep away the skeptics before they wipe you out. They will show you how much you do not know, how weak you are how uneducated you are and how useless your efforts are. Never believe them. Believe in yourself and understand that we all have our own weaknesses. The fact that you have a mindset of running your own business puts you in a better position to succeed in life because you are a thinker. Soon enough, you will be hiring your doubters to work for you. It is just a matter of time. Never give up.

Do Not Let Age Deter You

This mostly affects young ambitious leaders and entrepreneurs. People will rule you our because of your age but they fail to consider what you have between your ears. It does not matter whether you are tall, short, skinny, big, young or old. If you can reason well, use logic appropriately and see ahead, then nobody should stand on your way. Never listen to people talking behind your back. They were not meant to be in front so let them stay right there at the back. After all, you lead, others follow.

Know the Dragon

You cannot fight the war you do not know. Each and every one of us have their own dragons to slay. As I have mentioned in a number of my literatures that failure is the only thing guaranteed in this world. We should not fear failure because it does not need any effort to fail. It is the only easiest thing to achieve in life. Know your fears and build a plan to overcome them. Courage becomes a strong weapon to fight your dragon.

Be Strong and Very Courageous

Courage does not mean you do not fear anything. It simply means you have your weaknesses and fears but you take a bold step to face them. We were born once, we live once and die once so why not be adventurous and try to be courageous. After all we do not want to be trampled upon by every single challenge we meet on our way. Go out there and try doing new things. Success favors risk takers so if you cannot take the risk to use the weapons you hold in hand to slay the dragon in front of you, you will live a miserable life until you get in your grave. Why live in regrets if you had the opportunities to try. Trying is always better than not trying.

Act Out in Faith

Do it big, we do not have time to act small. When you are going to a war, prepare to conquer kingdoms, set captive your opponents and above all act in faith. Believe that with God you can do everything. We are blessed with wisdom and God’s protection and love. Just believe that you can do it and when you do, do it real big.

Joshua Okello is a B.A graduate in Business Administration, International Development and Philosophy. He is also the author of the book Strategies of Entrepreneurial Leadership He has exceptional skills in organizing, coordinating projects and capacity building initiatives with key emphasis on livelihood programs; microfinance through savings and credit led models; business development services and entrepreneurial leadership. He is also the founder and Executive Director of Succeed Africa Relief Organization, a Canadian Christian Organization geared towards giving hope and transformation in lives of the chronically poor in Africa.

Tag: Enemies

Breaking Out of Your Comfort Zone

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