The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media platforms spanning newspaper print
operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The Standard Group is recognized as a
leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and international interest.
Many years ago, when our parents, and grandparents worked for ten or 20 in the same organisation and retired to a golden handshake, there was such a thing as job security.
Now, enter the modern workplace, throw in a healthy (or sometimes unhealthy) dose of competition, corporate savviness, constant restructuring and job security goes out the window.
It follows then, that if you ever find yourself in a comfort zone, you may also be in for a rude awakening somewhere down the line.
Consistently getting out of your comfort zone gives you the confidence that you are not a fraud, and that you can not only survive, but thrive, outside of your current job or workplace.
Dive in
If you’re an entrepreneur, especially a budding one, then it is likely that no day is like the other; you’re likely wearing the CEO, accountant, legal, human resources, sales and marketing hats simultaneously.
If you’re employed though, it is likely that you have a job description and largely know how your typical day pans out. It is important, to every once in a while to throw yourself into situations where your craft doesn’t easily come to the rescue.
Employment gives you the safety of taking risks in a controlled environment, far more than would be possible in self-employment. But it also allows you to show your ‘can-do’ or entrepreneurial spirit which is something the modern workplace is in search of.
Participate in projects that allow you to utilise your less-honed skills.
Break through
The first risk is always the toughest. As you take risks, you will sometimes get an outcome different from what you expected, or sometimes even fail. But the fear of failure usually takes on a life of its own and appears gargantuan in comparison to the actual failure.
Failure is healthy in that it allows us to innovate and encourages the ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking that most workplaces are in dire need of.
More control
By stepping out of your comfort zone, you understand better what having some measure of control over your outcomes feels like, as well as living on your own terms.
This feeling of control has been shown by research to lower stress and increase job satisfaction.
Often, being in situations that are new and different release certain endorphins and adrenalin that spur us on to make more changes in all areas of our lives, a circuitous, virtuous effect.
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