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There’s an old saying that the only difference between a grave and a rut is the depth. You know it’s way too easy to slip into comfortable routines: like start the workday the same way every morning, eat the same lunch every noon, and talk to our families the same way every night. Too many people live the same day over and over, entrenched in their private version of, Groundhog Day. The comfort zone craves monotony, but ironically, monotony gives the comfort zone ulcers because of the nagging sense that life isn’t getting any better.

Every now and then, it’s smart to wake-up and re-vitalize your comfort zone by choosing to do the less comfortable thing. The easiest way to stretch your comfort zone for the better is to interact with people in fresh ways. Here are a half dozen smart ideas:
1. If you know someone who speaks a different language, practice a few phrases with her.
2. If you attend a weekly or monthly luncheon, choose to sit with people you don’t know well.
3. Each day this week introduce yourself to someone in your building you haven’t met.
4. Even though you love to figure stuff out for yourself, make yourself ask someone for help or directions.
5. Start a conversation with a neighbor you never talk with.
6. Stop talking about doing volunteer work and call a your church office, Goodwill or a soup kitchen and ask what jobs they might have available for you to do on your next day off.

Since routine stifles creativity, it’s smart to frequently choose the new over the known. Do the less comfortable thing and get growing!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 5:00 am and is filed under Podcast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.