Is Your Comfort Zone Killing Your Entrepreneurial Dreams?

A 2nd Act Entrepreneur is someone who is taking a gamble on themselves.  By taking their experience and expertise and turning it into a new venture.  That could be a coaching or consulting business, or an online program. 

But, as entrepreneurs, it can be SO easy to talk ourselves out of taking risks.

As we get older we can become complacent. There is more at stake than when we were adolescents or teens.

We have mortgages and 401Ks and college tuition to pay for.

Our parents are aging and there are emotional and time commitments required that most times we haven’t planned for.

But, entrepreneurship is anything but complacent.  In fact, it is one of the biggest risks you will ever take in your life. So if you have thrown your hat into the ring, bravo - you have already broken the first barrier of complacency.

This week on the 2nd Act Entrepreneur Show learn how to kick your complacency to the curb by activating part of your anatomy. 

Yep, we are going to take a slight dive into the science behind taking risks and sticking with the norm.  Listen or watch the entire episode here.

Even after you take that initial step of becoming an entrepreneur, your comfort zone can put up a giant stop sign that keeps you from chasing your dream and fulfilling your purpose.

Recently there has been a reoccurring niggle in my life around people taking ice-cold showers, diving into cold dunk tanks, and people diving into ice-cold frigid waters. I kept seeing it in the newsfeed, in articles I would stumble across, and even in a video ad.

Usually, when something comes across my line of vision more than once, I perk up and pay attention because more often than not the universe is trying to talk to get my attention.

But first, a quick anatomy lesson on the vagus nerves in case you aren’t familiar with what it is or what it does (I 100% wasn’t).

Your vagus nerves run from your brain to your large intestine and control the parasympathetic nervous system which controls your “rest and digest” functions. 

When this is out of balance we feel stressed out (hello 2020), have raised blood pressure, are in a bad mood, and may have digestion problems.  

You get the idea.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I wondered how does one shock the vagus nerve and resets the parasympathetic nervous system?

You guessed it, cold showers.  And other things like deep breathing, yoga, tuning forks (another favorite of mine) massage, gargling, singing, and a whole list of other things that you can find here.

But the one thing that rang true with most of the vagus nerve stimulation options is that they all require you to get out of your comfort zone.  

As we age, we get comfortable.  In our own skin, in our homes (the world becomes too peoply) with our routines.  But, entrepreneurship REQUIRES us to regularly leap out of our comfort zone.

Because I almost never take anything at face value, I decided to do an experiment. 

The first thing to know is I LOVE hot showers.  The hotter the better.  

To venture outside of my comfort zone I decided to take my regular balmy shower and then turn the water to ice-cold for one minute. 

You can bet that I counted down every second.

The first few times it was torturous, I’m not going to lie.

But then I got out of my head and realized, the fear wasn’t around the sensation, it was around not being comfortable.  

The prefrontal cortex of our brain wants to keep us safe. It runs the fight or flight response. 

Staying comfortable keeps that part of our brain happy and it will do ANYTHING to ensure our safety.  

Even if it’s not in our best interest.

So when I flipped that water to ice cold my brain started to freak the “F” out.  Yep, any excuse to shut off the water and get back to normal popped up.  Some of the thoughts in my head bordered on ridiculous.

But I was having none of it.

After a few weeks, what were the results of this cold shower experiment?  

They were nothing short of remarkable considering all I did was turn the water to ice cold.

I have had more energy, more ideas, and have spent less time being stuck in my own dang head.

I’ve meditated more and done more yoga.

I’ve finally felt aligned again and am ready to move forward. 

All of that from some cold water?  Yes and no.

The water was the first step. 

But challenging the status quo and our own inner dialogue, that’s where the real magic starts to happen.

Where have you been complacent or sticking to what’s comfortable?

What do you need to do instead to reach outside of your comfort zone so that you can reach your goals? 

Tell me in the comments below.

Until next week, 

Be well and take care.

~ Alisa