In life, we have a choice to choose to follow the common path or pick the path less traveled. Through conversation with a buddy of mine, I was reminded of a chapter in the book Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey that dove deeper into this concept. Because the thing is, there’s the path less traveled and then there is a place past that where you’re outside of your comfort zone. Last week a big change happened for me that has pulled me completely out of my comfort zone.
A few months ago, towards the end of Q1 (in the business world – that’s the first three months of a fiscal year), we did a soft launch of our new location. Something that had been in the works for over a year. That soft launch meant I was moving. And last week, hence the lack of a blog post, the official launch happened, and I packed up my belongings and headed down to Indianapolis. Now for me, the absence of comfort has presented itself mainly through the business. Sure, being away from family, loved ones, my hometown is an adjustment but it’s only a few hours and thankfully the trip is easily made by car. But on the business side… it’s another story.
The cliff notes version is this – we launched a location with no existing business, and I am the wearer of all hats, manning the ship. It’s my job to make this successful. We have some contacts we can tap into to help get the ball rolling but to reach our goal of being profitable by the date we set, is going to take hard work and a lot of ups and downs.
What does this have to do with the path less traveled, you might ask… let me explain. In our team meetings and in business there is this idea of a big hairy audacious goal. Something that seems so challenging to reach and takes some faith, a little luck, and a whole bunch of hard work. This expansion is one of those goals. We will dive deeper into this goal idea next week, but when it comes to faith, we are called to trust in the command. Proverbs 3:6 says, “In all your ways submit to him and he will make your path straight.” You see, ideally, this expansion would launch through acquisition with pre-existing customers, manpower, equipment, material, etc. But that wasn’t the case. In our start-up situation, none of that exists. And that in itself is the path less traveled. Take it a step further and I took a leap of faith with the trust of my partners and family to move down to run the operation. All of that combined takes me past the point of “path less traveled” and out of my comfort zone. It takes spiritual faith that though this may be challenging, it will not fail.
So, like an eagle who learns to be comfortably uncomfortable, there is growth and opportunity in the path less traveled that takes you out of your comfort zone. McConaughey alludes to this in Greenlights when he is explaining his decision to stay in Australia as an exchange student, despite less-than-ideal living conditions. He says, “we cannot fully appreciate the light without the shadow. We have to be thrown off balance to find our footing. It’s better to jump than fall.” See we all get pushed to our limits and tested – mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually. But how we respond to those testing moments and what we do about it, is where the growth is.
I challenge you to look inward. Look at the opportunities in front of you. When faced with a choice of safe and straightforward, look at the other option. The path that will challenge you, take you out of your comfort zone, allow you to grow, and have experiences you may not have had if you didn’t make the choice. That’s when we can set ourselves apart, work through the path outside our comfort zone and become the best version of ourselves.
WORKOUT
If we are talking about getting outside our comfort zone this week, it’s only fitting that we do the same thing in the workout as well. This week we are going to do a challenging HIIT workout that will push us to the limits, get us out of our normal routine and make us better and stronger!
For this workout use the WOD app or a stopwatch. We are going to perform 40sec work and 20 sec of rest. Go through each block three times. Take a minute break after each block is complete.
Block 1:
-Air Squats
-Burpees
-Squat Hold
Block 2:
-Push-ups
-Plank Hold (on elbows)
-Plank Get Ups (alternating lead arm, each time)
Block 3:
-Lunges (alternating ea. leg)
-Squat Jumps
-Mountain Climbers (knee to opposite elbow)
Block 4:
-V-Ups
-Crunches
-Russian Twists
Hammer and Anvil 