You may have heard and read thousands of time that nothing special doesn’t happen in the comfort zone. Do you find yourself to struggling in the same place all the time and nothing goes forward, whatever you do?

There is a fine line between success and failure, and it’s not even failure in all cases. The correct word could be the success and “nothing happened”. That fine line is powerful and sometimes it can define our lives. How to break that line and step out of your comfort zone?

Every people have their own ways to do it, but here are some ideas to try. Simply, the comfort zone is the learned behaviour place where you feel the safest, anxiety and stress-free. However, in order to perform better, we need to increase your stress, not too much but suitably. This optimal stress level, help us perform better as your senses are more alert, energy levels rise and we are more productive.

In running, speed and resistance are maybe one of the common problem. You might work hard to get better, but nothing happens. “Hold on, I do the intervals and speed training!” Yes, you might do, and still struggling with speed resistance. “Yes.” There’s the thing, you might have the plan run 5x1km interval in speed which challenges you, and you perform them well because you know how much there’s left. Consider, to go for the long run, let’s say 60 min run as hard as you run, with maintain the same speed all the time. It’s easier to drop speed relatively lower, as the exercise takes more time. You start to question yourself and your capability to run that fast that long. It’s harder to leave your comfort zone.

Previous was just an example, but it’s work in all aspect of life, the more you need to put effort the more difficult it will be. The line which I mentioned, is created in our heads, we can define, where it takes place.

Moving the line is easy and difficult, but most importantly it’s possible.

Start training your mind, go to a quiet place where you can relax, without disruption. Close your eyes and imagine yourself to do a difficult task, enjoy the feeling, how easy and effortless it is.  You can do this evening before you go to sleep. Next day, perform that task, push yourself out of your comfort zone, whether it is speed training or anything else in your life. Don’t get upset, if you don’t perform as good as you imagined, the point is you do your best. You can start a short time and add the time little by little, eventually, you find yourself becoming not only mentally stronger but also physically. Comfort zone is just learned line, it will always be there but we can move its place and we can step out of there temporarily.