What if you don’t need to leave your comfort zone to grow? Ann Rusnak challenges the popular advice that makes growth feel exhausting. She offers a different way forward.
Discover why fear appears when you approach something meaningful. Learn why your inner gremlin speaks up when you venture into unfamiliar territory. And see how small actions can expand your comfort zone one step at a time.
Sailing to Unstoppable Success Community
https://sailingtounstoppablesuccess.substack.com/
Transcript
Taking the first step into anything new expands your comfort zone.
In fact, that's exactly what I'm doing right now.
This is my first podcast episode.
And honestly... recording it felt a little uncomfortable.
Which makes it the perfect topic for today on talking about the myths surrounding your comfort zone.
Hey Ann Rusnak here, your host of Sailing to Unstoppable Success.
I took podcasting courses... more than one. I researched microphones, studied launch strategies, filled pages with episode ideas... and never hit record.
For years, "someday" felt safer than "today."
Eventually, I realized waiting wasn't making it easier.
How many times did you hear this advice?
You need to step outside your comfort zone to get more out of life and achieve your goals and dreams.
When people talk about leaving their comfort zone, they make it sound like you need one giant leap into the unknown.
Push your boundaries.
Face your fears.
Muster up the courage.
Everything you want is outside of the circle of comfort.
Listen to that language for a second. (pause)
Face.
Push.
Muster.
Every word sounds exhausting before you even begin.
We hear this advice so often that we accept it as true and rarely stop and question it.
The non-conformist in me kept thinking... there has to be a better way than making growth feel miserable.
Think about a ship sitting safely in a harbor.
People love saying a ship wasn't designed to stay in the harbor.
Fair enough.
But the ship doesn't magically appear in the middle of the ocean either.
It leaves the harbor one mile at a time.
The harbor expands into open water.
That's how growth works for most of us.
Every meaningful thing I ever did started with a first step that felt awkward, uncertain, or uncomfortable.
Writing a book.
Starting a business.
Recording this podcast.
None of those things felt comfortable at first.
But I didn't step outside my comfort zone.
I expanded it.
That's the myth I want to challenge today.
Because the moment we start talking about comfort zones...
Fear usually enters the conversation.
Most people treat fear like a stop sign.
I see it a little differently.
Fear marks the edge.
It shows you exactly where your comfort zone ends.
And every time you take a small step forward, that edge moves.
Your comfort zone expands.
I once read a sentence that stopped me in my tracks:
"Your dreams and your fears are neighbors."
I fell in love with that idea.
Because it explains why growth feels uncomfortable.
The things we want most often sit right beside the things that make us nervous.
The first conversation.
The first offer.
The first video.
The first podcast episode.
The first step.
Fear shows up because you're approaching something meaningful.
And that's often when your inner gremlin shows up too.
It starts whispering questions.
What if this doesn't work?
What if people judge you?
What if you fail?
Not because you're moving in the wrong direction...
But because you're leaving the known and stepping toward the unknown.
And your inner gremlin's job is to protect you from venturing into unfamiliar territory.
So instead of asking yourself how to step outside your comfort zone…
What if you approached it as an adventure?
What if you focused on expanding the boundary instead of leaving?
One small step.
One new experience.
One slightly uncomfortable action at a time...still within the safety of your zone of comfort. This reassures your inner gremlin everything will be alright… it quiets down.
Before long, what once felt scary starts feeling normal.
And what once sat outside your comfort zone now lives inside it.
That's how we grow.
That's how we sail beyond the harbor.
And that's how we discover we're capable of far more than we originally believed.