Blog
Leaving Your Comfort Zone
MOMENTS THAT TRANSFORM US.
I can’t grow from my comfort zone.
If someone else can do it, I can do it.
Learning from acting and seeing others acting.
I want to start a series of blogs about moments that transform us. There are precious moments in life, events or experiences that impact us in a way that we are transformed into another person, different from the one we were before the experience, in a way that we never come back to be the person we were before the event.
I want the first blog of the series to honor one of the persons that impacted me most, because she made me stronger. Not by what she said or by giving me any specific tips, but by the action she took and what I saw happening. That moment became engraved in my memory and since then been a permanent example that courage to move out of the comfort zone is the first step to transcend and impact the world around you. Her name is Angela.
It all happened in an organizational seminar environment in a particular week. Two or three times a year, I and a few colleagues left our daily jobs for a week to meet in a hotel in the middle of nowhere and train thirty to sixty managers attending the seminar. On a few of these occasions, Angela was part of the training team. Angela was at that time a Senior Administrator on her daily job at a technical center different from mine, so we only met at the seminars. During the seminars, she helped to ensure the logistics ran smoothly for the trainers not to worry about them and concentrate on achieving the seminar objective to send many enlightened managers back to their daily work after the one-week seminar.
Angela used to sit at the back of the plenum room, with her desk separating her chair from the room in a kind of “protected” corner. She always did an impeccable job, but unnoticed and very silent. She was amazed on what she saw happening, but never dared taking a step forward and participating one way or another in interactions with the participants. When we asked her why not, she simply said she was too afraid of doing it.
Before sharing with you this transforming moment for me, I want to add an important detail relevant to the story. I will come back to it at the end. The seminar used to start on a Sunday and go on till Friday afternoon. On that Saturday before joining the seminar, I got brand new eyeglasses, quite sophisticated, progressive graduation, to see well from the distance and for reading. The frame was made of light metal, and the glasses were frameless. It looked like I was wearing nothing. They were quite expensive, but not the top price because I could have even gone higher with a titanium frame, non-deformable no matter what you did to it. I thought this was too much for me at that time and decided to go for a yet expensive but more affordable frame.
Like in other occasions, the trainer team, one of them proud of his new eyeglasses, met on Sunday morning prior to receiving the participants. We prepared everything, Angela did again a great job with the logistics and we welcomed the participants in the afternoon.
As the seminar was progressing, on Monday Angela was somehow uncomfortable with her historical secondary role and suggested that, this time, she could take a more active role interacting with the participants if we would agree to it. With her predisposition and a little bit more persuasion, I and all my colleagues in the trainer team encouraged her to do it. She knew that no matter what happened, we would be there to support her. So, on Tuesday, she gave a lecturette to the participants about the importance of receiving quality feedback. There she stood, in front of thirty managers and directors, all mesmerized listening to her giving a wonderful and unique point of view, totally new to them, about that subject.
We were all amazed to see what was happening. Speaking for myself, I got goose bumps. I was so impressed that an administrator, what we called at that time a secretary, was lecturing directors and managers about an important organizational topic, and all of them thought that she giving that lecture was actually part of the course design. Nobody noticed that for Angela, it was a big personal risk she was taking, moving out of her comfort zone, and risking being ridiculed in the process.
I was so happy at the end of it that I jumped from my chair towards the front of the room to give her a big hug. She was also so relieved, happy, and excited that she hugged me so strongly against her chest that my eyeglasses were totally deformed after the hug, with one glass looking up and out and the other one looking down and in.
An unforgettable and transforming moment! Angela taught me how stretching oneself out of the comfort zone can make us grow ten-fold. Angela taught me that if she could do it, I could do it too, particularly in a supportive environment surrounded by people I trust. And Angela made me regret not having bought the titanium frame for the eyeglasses.
Today, more than a quarter century later, I still have those repaired eyeglasses, because seeing through them, I see Angela and always remember that leadership and courage are not in the ranks, but in the heart and in the character.
From there on until her retirement as a Senior Administrator, Angela remained an active member of the trainer teams together with directors and managers, leading new seminars on organizational effectiveness and introducing different topics from the agenda.
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About Me
AGUSTIN RAMOS
Agustin is a leading coach and mentor for managers and entrepreneurs. He helps them overcome all challenges, achieve top results with their company in line with their values, grow personally and live a happier personal life.
Copyright 2024 by Agustin Ramos. All rights reserved.