Every person has two comfort zones. We have a physical comfort zone and a mental comfort zone.
Physically, people like where they can settle into routines. In the gym, at home, on the ice, and in relationships. The more routine, the less problems.
Those routines though are really being controlled by your being in a mental comfort zone. Creating habits that we call routines. All routines, and habits are not designated to elevate your opportunities for success.
How we think, what we think, and where we go for information helps us create those habits.
Success is a habit. It is not something that comes with luck, or through mundane routines. This is the same on or off the ice.
The very best athletes in the world are constantly changing their habits. Workouts constantly change, on ice practices are constantly changing with the best coaches, nothing stays the same and they adapt in order to keep moving forward.
This means they are constantly searching for new information from new sources. If you keep reading one magazine to get your workout information, you are only getting on perspective. If you keep on running the same old flow drills every day at practice you are not changing anything to get different results in games.
There are good habits that all the best athletes have such as eating properly, getting enough sleep, going to the gym, gathering information, and implementing new things into their way of thinking and training.
The best athletes do not stand still physically or mentally, and they are constantly moving outside of their comfort zones.
I spoke to a parent of a prospective client a few days ago. A good player with potential who was needing a little extra boost to get to the next level.
When I asked what they did last summer to get into their position this summer, he told m about the camps they went to and what happened at those camps. When I asked him what the plan was for this summer, he basically repeated that they were going to return to almost all of those same camps.
When I asked him why he would return to camps this summer that were not effective last summer, he has no answer.
When I asked about training, again, all of the training for last year was going to be repeated this year.
When I pointed out one specific camp and asked why they would attend this camp the answer was “we go there every year.” When I asked why they went every year, the answer was, because “we like the area and he has fun”. Liking the area and enjoying the camp are reasons to attend summer camp, not to get to the next level.
It is time to challenge your thinking, and your habits. It is time to break out of the patterns of what you think will get you to the next level and do something different that challenges your though process and your training. It is time to get out of the comfort zone, and make real changes in order to become what you say you want to become.
Actions, not words.
Getting out of your comfort zones is not an easy thing for a lot of people. The fear of the unknown and of possibly making a mistake is what holds most people back. It is also what has most people in their fifties sitting and wondering about what could have been if they had only tried.
Trying and making mistakes is ok, that’s call learning. You can only learn by doing something different. Getting out of your comfort zone will allow you to try and do something different. Staying within your comfort zone will leave you right where you are well into your future.
Joseph Kolodziej – Adviser
