Our comfort zone can be very limiting. For instance, it can hold you back from realising your greater potential, making a bigger difference to your clients, and experiencing greater success.
So, in this article I explore what a financial planner comfort zone is and what it takes to transcend it.
What is a comfort zone?
Imagine you have a piece of plain white paper and on it you draw a circle. Instantly, you have created a boundary. There is what is inside the circle and what is outside the circle.
A boundary brings potential for conflict and nowhere is this truer than in our own minds.
A ‘comfort zone’ is a bunch of beliefs. Such as how you think of yourself. What you think you are capable of. What you think is possible and not possible for you. In fact, everything you think you know.
As soon as we begin to go near the edges of what we know we can find ourselves being pulled back into what is familiar to us because uncomfortable feelings arise.
For instance, at one time, even though I wanted to work with successful business owners I experienced all sorts of internal resistance. I had stories in my mind about not being good enough, why they wouldn’t listen to me, or did not need the help I could provide.
What are your comfort zones?
Whilst we all have our own imaginary boundaries some of the ones that have consistently emerged from financial planners are:
*Reluctance to having deeper conversations with clients
*Working with high-net-worth clients
*Fear of making bold requests
*Asking for introductions
*Failure to delegate administrative tasks
*Stuck on the same business plateau year after year
*Procrastinating on important projects
If you reflect for a moment, where you would love to make more progress but are holding back?
Do you need to take your fearful thinking seriously?
I once watched the psychologist George Pransky address an audience of close to a thousand people.
The first thing George said was that he had been waiting backstage ready to come on and feeling nervous. George, well into his 70’s, said with a chuckle that he was beginning to think that feeling nervous before a speech was never going to change!
What struck me most of all was that George was simply not bothered that he felt nervous.
How to transcend the financial planner comfort zone
Do you need to do anything to overcome your fear? No. Does it even matter that you feel scared? No.
In the brilliant book, ‘The war of art’ by Steven Pressfield. He writes:
‘The professional tackles the project that will make him stretch. He takes on the assignment that will bear him into uncharted waters, compel him to explore unconscious parts of himself.
Is he scared? Hell, yes. He’s petrified.
(Conversely, the professional turns down roles that he’s done before. He’s not afraid of them anymore. Why waste his time?)
So, if you’re paralyzed with fear, it’s a good sign. It shows you what you have to do.’
Everything you most want – the juice of life, happiness, inner peace, realising more of your infinite potential – all wait for you outside your (imaginary) comfort zone.
P.S. Do you want to know the most dangerous word in the English language? Click here to find out.
