#140 3 Proven Strategies To Break Through Your Comfort Zone To Fulfil Your Potential

Lucy Gernon (00:02.542)
Staying in your comfort zone is stopping you from realizing your full potential. I want to be real with you as your friend, as your coach. If you want to break free from the invisible chains that are holding you back, it is all about getting comfortable being uncomfortable. I invite you to commit this week to stepping outside your comfort zone.

And in this week’s episode of the show, I’m going to be sharing three proven strategies to support you to break free of your comfort zone so you can fulfill your leadership potential. Stay tuned.

Lucy Gernon (00:50.35)
Hello, lovely lady and welcome back to the 360 Leadership Podcast. I’m your host, Lucy Gurnan. If you’re new here, you’re very welcome. If you’re a long time listener, it’s great to have you back. I would love to ask you a favor before I jump into the show. Can you please rate and review the show for me? Now I’ve asked you before, but have you done it for me? If you haven’t, I would so appreciate it because we put so much time and effort into this podcast. And by literally just clicking a button to click five stars on Spotify or Apple or

write a short review on Apple podcasts, you’re going to send a message to the algorithm that you like the content and it’s going to push it to more women leaders just like you. So together we can have more women rising up and owning their voices. Okay. So please, can you do that for me? I would so appreciate it. On this week’s episode of the show, I’m keeping on the theme of confidence and comfort zones because it is the one thing that’s holding you back and

The reason I wanted to record this episode of the show is because in June, when we had our new 360 leaders club members join, I held a one percent comfort zone challenge where I challenged women every single day for 21 days to do one small thing outside their comfort zone. And the results were phenomenal. We had members who were reaching out to new connections in the organization to help them with their visibility.

One lady said she reached out to a VP of quality who she would have made negative assumptions about in the past to have a virtual coffee next week. And to her surprise, she was super friendly and couldn’t wait to meet her. Another said that she was speaking up in two separate meetings on the day I set this particular challenge. And one was in a challenging situation where two more senior people were arguing, which was definitely out of her comfort zone.

And the second time was in a meeting where she shared a free learning resource that was available internally with her peers. Now, usually she wouldn’t have done that, but by just doing that and taking action, she positioned herself as a leader. She put herself in the game. And as a result, she felt that little more confident. Another one of the challenges I set the girls was to ask for feedback, something lots of us…

Lucy Gernon (03:10.734)
want to structure and do as part of an end of year review and really overthink how we get the feedback. No, no, no, no. You just ask. OK, don’t make a big deal about it. And one of the girls said when she asked a team member what she liked about her leadership, she was humble to hear that her team member said she appreciates that I am transparent with her and will give her direct feedback. She said she came away from that conversation feeling good.

And it’s nice to know that the investment of her time into her team is effective and appreciated. Another said that she got great feedback today. One of the tech transfer leads said that the people breathe a sigh of relief when she joins a complex discussion and resolves the issues in a professional manner. Now, all of these things came because the girls took action outside their comfort zone. They didn’t want to take the action, right? But because they’ve done it and now they’re on the other side,

they now have proof that actually it’s a good thing. So in order to really move forward, that’s exactly why I wanted to record this episode of the show to share a little bit more about this. So the first thing I want to talk about is why staying in your comfort zone is stopping you from realizing your full potential. I know you are ambitious, you are driven, you are family focused and you are tired of being timid and playing small.

You see the men and other people being promoted around you and you know you have what it takes to do the job. You might have even felt the need to hide or downplay being a working mother too, so that it doesn’t go against you. But you’re ready now to show up authentically. You want to stop wearing a mask and just own your worth and be fully confident in what you bring to the table. You really just need to rebrand yourself. You know that you do, but

you know that you’re not really sure how to do it because of this self -doubt that’s there, right? There’s lots of awakenings happening for you and you’re realizing that what you bring to the table is good, but you haven’t really been owning it or showing up that way. Why? Because you are in your comfort zone. OK, when you stay in your comfort zone, your colleagues, your superiors don’t know what you bring to the table.

Lucy Gernon (05:32.078)
They see you as somebody timid in the background who’s always there, always obliging, always ready to say yes. But saying yes is actually not going to get you where you want to be. Saying yes to yourself while also continuing to support others is what’s going to get you where you want to be. So I’m going to say that again. Saying yes to yourself and others is what’s going to get you where you want to be.

not just saying yes to everything for other people. It’s about time, my lovely lady. You started thinking about you and what you want. When’s the last time you said yes to yourself? When was the last time you invested in yourself? If you are working with me right now, you know I’m all about investing and I’m so proud of you for taking the decision to invest in your own development and work together.

And if you’re not there yet and you’ve never worked with a coach, I would highly recommend that if you are ambitious and driven and ready to advance, a coach is going to get you there so much faster. A coach will help you to move out of your comfort zone, to give you the tools, to give the accountability. So I would really recommend that you start thinking about finding a coach, whether that’s me or whether that’s somebody within your organization. Lots of organizations have coaching programs.

But I really recommend that if you’re in your comfort zone, a coach can help you to get out of it. OK, so go and have a little think about that. And we will be taking on new members in 360 Leaders Club on the 1st of October if you’re listening to this live. So if you’re not on the waitlist and you’re curious about joining, pop your name down. It’s 360leadersclub .com forward slash waitlist. And I will be in touch to have a quick call and see if it’s a good fit for us. OK.

So now I’m going to share with you today three proven strategies to support you to break out of your comfort zone. The first one, I’ve already said it, it’s to seek support. You do not have to do this alone. The biggest mistake I made for too long was not realizing that I had access to support. Be that an internal mentor, an internal leadership development program,

Lucy Gernon (07:55.694)
working with me in 360Leaders Club, working with me privately, finding an internal mentor. You’ve got to do this with somebody. What’s the expression? If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. So that’s my first invitation. Seek out support. And like I said, if you want to join 360, just submit your application, go to 360LeadersClub .com forward slash waitlist and I’ll be in touch.

The second thing then is you’ve got to put a plan in place. So if you want to move out of your comfort zone, if you have a plan, it is so much easier. But where do you even start? Right. I’ll tell you where. I invite you to think about your goal and then reverse engineer the steps backwards. And that’s it. When

people come to join 360 and work with me. I’ve seen two different types of people. I’ve seen people who are super clear on their goal. They know they want to get to VP level, C level. They know they want to improve their executive presence. They want to blow their revenue targets out of the water. They want to get more comfortable speaking on stages. They’ve got this drive to be the best. That’s who I want to work with. I want to work with people who want to be the best.

because I just absolutely love being in your corner because you have so much talent, so much impact to give to the world. When they know where they’re going, it’s very easy to reverse engineer the steps to get there. They mightn’t be easy, but you can easily map out the steps, right? You might be have a conversation with this person. It might be send an email and set up a coffee with this person, right? It’s easy to map the steps. But if you don’t know where you’re going,

you can’t really move forward. Now that is also something I can help with for sure in 360, help you get clear on your goals, but it’s about having a vision of who you want to become and then putting a plan in place to get there. And then using the support that you have in your coach to support you to get there easier, faster and more fun than ever before. It doesn’t have to be as hard as we make it. And number three, can you guess what it is?

Lucy Gernon (10:21.07)
The third thing, the third strategy to break through your comfort zone, to fulfill your potential, talk about it all the time, is take imperfect action. Stop waiting for the right time. Stop waiting until this project is over. Stop waiting, stop waiting, stop waiting and just do it. We are only here once girls. You have an impact. The world needs you and it’s time for you to take action.

So I have a little challenge for you. I want to challenge you this week to do one thing that pushes you closer to your goals. And the more uncomfortable it feels, actually, the more confident you’ll become afterwards. The more confident you become, you’ll start to show up differently. And when you show up differently and you align with the person you’re becoming, success is inevitable. So will you do that?

For yourself, take one action and then DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn and let me know the action you took. Please don’t just listen to this podcast and say, she’s right. I should take action. Please just do one small thing. That might be write out your plan. It might be finally getting real with yourself about what you truly want. It might be setting up that coffee call like one of our ladies did with the VP in her organization.

It might be reaching out to a peer, it might be asking for feedback, it might be applying for the job, might be updating the CV, whatever that action is for you. Just do it. You know what you need to do. So just do it. And I am here for you every single step of the way, every single step of the way. I love hearing from you. So make sure you send me a DM when you do. And just a reminder, if you listen to this live, which is at the end of August, God bless you. The kids are just going back to school. Hallelujah.

It’s time to start thinking about yourself. We’re coming into the last quarter of the year. I know it’s not October, but I always think like September is like the second new year. And you’ve got four months to be able to say, wow, 2024, I ended it with a bang. I can’t believe how far I’ve come. I can’t believe how much has changed because I got out of my comfort zone and took action.

Lucy Gernon (12:46.03)
Now, if imposter syndrome is stopping you, please come along to my free masterclass, which is on in September. Just go to lucygarden .com forward slash masterclass and you can grab your free seat. There are limited spots available. OK, so please go and grab your seat. There’s a couple of time slots for you. And I’m going to be teaching you my five step proven process to bust imposter syndrome once and for all. You’re going to absolutely love this masterclass. Please, please come along. And then the second thing is if you’re like Lucy.

I am ready to work with you. I know I need support. I know I’ve been listening to your podcast and I have been trying to do this alone for too long and I’m going nowhere. I’m ready now for accountability. I’m ready for support. I’m ready for executive coaching. I’m really ready to invest in me because it’s my time now and I’m ready. I want to hear from you. I am so excited to hear from Driven Ambitious Women.

So I invite you to join the 360Litres Club waitlist, which is open right now. Just go to 360LitresClub .com forward slash waitlist, pop your name down and anyone on the waitlist gets first dibs in the space when we open up the doors in just a couple of weeks, actually. So you better be quick. Please don’t procrastinate. Put your name down and I’ll be in touch to have a chat. If you enjoyed this week’s episode of the show.

There’s another couple of episodes I would recommend you listen to. Actually, I have one that’s popping to mind. It’s episode number 51, which is strategies for success for women in leadership with Mary Moynihan. Mary is a senior vice president in Global Hit or in Dell, and she is an extremely inspiring woman. And there’s so many golden nuggets in that episode. So go check out episode number 51 as well. Now we have come to the end. I hope that you found today.

Motivating, inspiring. I hope you’re ready to move at your comfort zone. And I really look forward to seeing you at my free masterclass in October if you’re listening to it live or seeing your name come through on 360 Leaders Club waitlist. I cannot wait. And just as a gentle reminder, if you want to start broaching the subject with your employer to invest in you, I can help you with that. We have a membership justification template with all the amazing benefits to not only you,

Lucy Gernon (15:06.734)
but your organization also. So just reach out to me and I can give you that because if you can get funding from your employer, amazing. A lot of our members would fund it themselves, but a lot would also get reimbursed by their employers. So if you don’t ask, you don’t get right. So if you need any support with your application, please feel free to reach out to me. And on that note, we are done today. I hope you have the most beautiful day. I hope you feel inspired and I hope you are ready to take.

action. See you next week, same time, same place. Bye for now.