In my training sessions I often refer to ‘the old me’ and ‘this me’ in relation to explaining how I have altered my comfort zones over the years to arrive at what’s now ‘normal’ for me.
To illustrate the point I offer a very brief summary of my day last Tuesday.
21 November 2017
6.15 a.m. Get up, get ready, get out the door!
8.15 a.m. Arrive at The Golf Hotel, Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire
9.00 a.m. First delegate arrives – ‘Show Time’ Take One
9.30 a.m. Training starts for a brand new one day course
4.20 p.m. Leave Woodhall Spa and head for the Midlands
8.00 p.m. Arrive at The Hyatt Regency Hotel, Birmingham
8.15 p.m. Get in room, get ready, get out the door!
9.00 p.m. Arrive at Room 9 of the International Convention Centre, Birmingham – ‘Show Time’ Take Two
10.35 p.m. Take to the stage and start my speech
11.10 p.m. Speech ends and leave the stage
12.05 a.m. Back in room, evening suit off, PJs on AND eat extra-large sausage roll!
Oh! the glamour of it all.
Once upon a time I would have just about coped with having to deliver a brand new course. There was a time that driving right into the centre of a city like Birmingham would have freaked me out, let alone having then to park a mile from the venue in a multi-story and then find the hotel!
Not to mention the ‘old me’ having to contend with the road works in the city centre that meant I couldn’t get to the car park that I had programmed into my SAT NAV and I had to find somewhere else!
And the prospect of standing up in front of hundreds of people in a really posh venue as the key note speaker at a gala dinner for a national conference … and talking without any notes … and being REALLY comfortable doing it … well the ‘old me’ would be nowhere!
And to do all on the same day, never!
The wonderful thing about our comfort zones is that we are in charge of them, not the other way round. This is yet another example of ‘if I can, well anyone can’.
So, take on your comfort zone head on, do the things you are afraid to do and amaze yourself about what becomes your new ‘normal’.
PS Always carry an emergency sausage roll!