Every person on Earth has a comfort zone, whether it be in their personal life and/or their business life. I define this zone as "the place where one feels safe that is devoid of challenges or threatening circumstances".

When in business, this zone can be determining factor of whether one succeeds or fails. It is very easy to get locked into that which is comfortable to us and just try to work a business within those boundaries. But it doesn't work, it doesn't stretch us to better our business or become successful, enlightened person most of us want to be.

Again I ask, where is your "Comfort Zone"?

What part of working your business makes you most uncomfortable?

Is it still being done anyway?

For some it, is picking up phone and making that business contact, or writing their first newsletter or setting short and long term goals and sticking by them or revising them as things change. For others, it might be talking person-to-person trying to network, or writing a vision statement of where they eventually want to end up or even asking someone to be their mentor.

The first step to "stretching that comfort zone" is to replace negative thought:

I can't... I will fail... Who will listen to me... They will just say no... I'm not a writer... I'll make a fool of myself... and so on and so on......

With just opposite:

I can... I will succeed... They might just listen and if they don't, well I'll move on to next person... Hey, let's ask, they could say "yes"... I've never written anything before but I can give it a shot... I will only make a fool of myself if I don't try...

Believe me, there is no quick fix here. It takes constant positive mind talk to get to place where one's self- confidence and "I can do it" attitude kick in.

The wind was blowing strong yesterday. As wind hit trees, dead leaves came flying off. It looked liked a leaf shower. I could almost hear trees laughing with glee that dead things hanging from their branches were finally flying away.

As I watched, thought hit me that every once in a while, we humans need to have a clean, refreshing wind blow through us to blow off all those dead things - ideas, attitudes, mindsets - that hang on us and weight us down.

What kinds of dead things are hanging off your branches?

Dead Thing #1 - I Can't Do This

Do you realize that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to do? Your mind is a powerful instrument. If you believe you can do something, your mind is a powerful catalyst toward getting it done. Rather than sit on your couch and repeat over and over, *I can't,* start saying out loud (yes, out loud), *I can do this. I am able. Nothing is too hard for me.* Once you say it enough, you'll come to believe it. Then watch out world!

Dead Thing #2 - I Don't Know How

The people who really are rocket scientists didn't know how to build rockets until they learned. It's OK not to know how to do something. The problem is when we let this attitude keep us from attaining our goals. There are many resources on Internet, in your local library, on your town's college campus. Take advantage of these resources and learn how to do what you need to do.

Dead Thing #3 - I'm Stupid