Hunt For Greatness
Milton Kamwendo
GROWTH is not an accident.
Greatness is not luck. Growth and greatness are intentional and deliberate. They require effort
and energy.
Many people remain stagnant, locked in familiar pedestrian routines. Leaving the comfort zone is intimidating.
Growth and comfort rarely co-exist.
The secret to greatness lies in the willingness to step beyond the comfortable boundaries of familiarity and embrace uncertainty and the challenges that lie beyond.
The comfort zone is a psychological state where things feel safe and predictable. It is a space where stress and risk are minimal. It offers temporary peace and stability.
The comfort zone is like a rocking chair: You feel you are moving but you will not be going anywhere.
Staying in a comfort zone for too long leads to stasis, stagnation, boredom and purposelessness. All this leads to unfulfilled potential.
Growth lies just outside the comfort zone. It lies on the edges of discomfort.
This is where challenges force you to adapt and grow; innovate and stretch.
To achieve greatness, step out of your comfort zone and embrace the uncomfortable.
On September 12, 1962, John F. Kennedy, the then-President of the United States, gave a speech at Rice University in Texas.
At the beginning of the speech, he noted: “We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a state noted for strength and we stand in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance. The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.”
To move out of the comfort zone, knowledge, progress and strength are required.
Change and challenge have to be met by a willingness to go out of the comfort zone.
Kennedy, in his speech, shared plans of his administration to send a man to the moon before 1970. It was a bold goal that needed a nation to move out of its comfort zone.
He said: “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organise and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”
This is the anthem for moving out of the comfort zone.
It must be a resolute choice. It may be hard, but it is the hard choice that you must make.
Do not postpone it.
Comfort zone
The comfort zone provides a sense of security and stability. It allows you to recharge, recover and rest, but for how long? Regrettably, the comfort zone can quickly become a trap. It holds you back from your full potential.
Psychologists describe this as the “familiarity trap”, where people stick to what they know, because the unknown feels risky.
Staying in this safe space often leads to regret.
Opportunities for growth are on the other side of comfort.
Greatness requires taking risks and stepping into the unknown. Progress demands that you leave the confines of what feels comfortable and familiar.
Why discomfort
Imagine a seed — any seed.
It can remain in its current state forever, safe and dormant.
To unleash its plant potential, the seed must break through the shell, push through the soil and face the harsh elements.
Growth is not comfortable. It challenges and stretches you. It exposes your weaknesses and fears.
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It is in the discomfort of growth that transformation happens.
Stepping out of your comfort zone means facing fears and confronting insecurities. You risk failure and bruising your ego.
This process is daunting but essential for growth.
When you take a leap into the unknown, you discover new strengths, develop resilience and expand your potential.
Discomfort is the price of growth. It is the catalyst for transformation.
Beyond the zone
Henry David Thoreau once said: “What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.”
When you escape your comfort zone, you enter the growth zone.
This is where learning, creativity and self-discovery happens.
This is where you develop new skills, acquire new knowledge and uncover the greatness within you.
In the growth zone, you encounter challenges that force you to adapt and innovate.
You make mistakes, but you also learn from them.
This is where real progress is made.
Get out of jail
Escaping your comfort zone is not a blind jump. You stretch yourself in manageable ways.
Set new and inspiring goals. Define your goals. Identify the steps you need to take to reach them.
This gives you the motivation to move forward.
You move by starting out. Start small, but begin. Small steps build momentum and confidence.
Fail if you must, but do not give up.
Do not let fear hold you back.
Failure is a stepping stone to success. Reframe failure as feedback. Use it to improve and grow.
Challenge your fears
If necessary, just do it, but do not let fear fry you.
Surround yourself with people who inspire, challenge and support your growth.
Celebrate your progress, no matter how small.
Acknowledge the courage it takes to leave the familiar behind.
Growth is not a destination; it is a greatness journey.
Embrace the discomfort.
Grow, learn and build.
Committed to your greatness.
Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author and accomplished workshop facilitator. He is a cutting-edge strategy, team-building and organisation development facilitator and consultant. He can be reached at: [email protected]
