Mackay: Staying in your comfort zone is not the way to get ahead

Once upon a time, a king was given two baby eagles as a gift, and he assigned a caretaker to raise and train the magnificent birds.

One day, the king asked to see the birds fly. Both birds took off, one soaring in the sky while the other only flew for a few minutes before returning to its special tree.

The king asked the caretaker what the matter was, and the caretaker said that he didn't know.

The king offered a reward to anyone who could teach the second eagle to fly.

Many people tried by offering treats, along with kind and threatening words. Nothing worked until, one day, the king noticed both eagles soaring in the sky together. Excited, he sought out the caretaker to ask what happened.

"A farmer came by yesterday," the caretaker explained. "When I told him about the situation and reward, he went home and returned with a saw and a ladder. He climbed up to the eagle's branch and sawed it off. The eagle had no choice but to fly."

This story from Bits & Pieces demonstrates that sometimes we get too comfortable in our surroundings and don't strive to do more until we get a little nudge.

For some reason, the goal for many people is to get to that comfort level in our everyday lives. And that is fine for many.

But playing it safe is not how to get ahead. Comfort zones need to be exploited.

Life is full of opportunities to get outside your comfort zone, but grabbing hold of them can be difficult. Examine your own life and see what is holding you back so you can start to soar like those eagles.

If something doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you. Expose yourself to new experiences. Adopt a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset.

Being uncomfortable and scared are two different things. Being uncomfortable means you are feeling uneasy about being in an unfamiliar situation. Being scared entails anxiety, danger or fear. You can be uncomfortable without being scared.

My advice is to challenge yourself. Maybe it's going out and networking in a social setting. Go slowly and try one new thing a day. The more times you put yourself in uncomfortable situations, the more comfortable and confident you will become.

I'm not telling you it's going to be easy; I'm telling you it's going to be worth it. Surround yourself with people who will support you. Know that failure is part of the journey.

By leaving your comfort zone behind and taking a leap of faith into something new, you find out who you are truly capable of becoming.

In the bullfighting arena, expert matadors have long gained an edge by pinpointing a bull's comfort zone. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina studied this phenomenon and explained:

"In bullfighting there is a term called querencia. The querencia is the spot in the ring to which the bull returns. Each bull has a different querencia, but as the bullfight continues, and the animal becomes more threatened, it returns more and more often to his spot. As he returns to his querencia, he becomes more predictable."

What are the consequences of predictability?

"In the end," Fiorina says, "the matador is able to kill the bull because instead of trying something new, the bull returns to what is familiar. His comfort zone."

Mackay's Moral: There is no comfort in the learning zone, and there is no learning in the comfort zone.

Harvey Mackay is a Minneapolis businessman. Contact him at 612-378-6202 or email harvey@mackay.com.