The Element of Challenge and Its Hope For Pushing Us Out of Our Comfort Zone

The Cat in the Hat Came Out of a Challenge to Its Author (You can Read About it Here)

What gives me hope that we can get out of our comfort zones and turn ‘I can’t’ into ‘been there, done that’?

Knowing that everyone, moi included, has done so many times in their lives.

Back when I was a copywriter, I wrote words. Lots of them. Had someone looked in a crystal ball (the Dolores Pereira mentioned in my post The Man In the Bath-tub, perhaps) and seen me becoming a bean counter – I would have gone “Psshhh”.  Anyone who knew me at that time would have gone “Pssshhh” too.  Especially all the accounting and finance people I knew. After all, I used to be someone whose eyes would glaze over as soon as you talked numbers. My friend Ajay probably remembers.  I bought some stocks through him.  After doing so, I would harass him regularly about why my stocks were fluctuating in value. I did not know how the stock market worked in those days. And I did not care to learn.

 

Yet, from a numbers illiterate, here I am, making a living out of numbers in America. Thousands and thousands of them. On hundreds of Excel spreadsheets.  Sometimes running to 100,000 rows and over 60 columns.

The fact that I became a Commissions Analyst (a career you can learn about from my post My Day Job. Xactly. More Or Less) is a miracle of sorts.

Or not.

We set ourselves artificial boundaries by identifying with particular careers and areas of expertise. When in fact, we can choose to pursue any new avenue at any time. 

We also tend to have tunnel vision about the boundaries of our area of expertise. After being a Commissions Analyst for a while, I got used to thinking of myself as one.  So did everyone else. Then suddenly I was not just a Commissions Analyst, but an ICM (Incentive Compensation Management) implementation architect as well. Who could have predicted that?

Certainly not all the Commissions Managers and Analysts I worked with. If Rob Bresny (mentioned in my post The Element of Creativity and Its Hope for Reinvention in Our Lives) said he saw Project Management and FRDs and Unit Testing and UATs and “Going Live” in my horoscope, I would have said “You have got to be kidding me.  You have got to be kidding me!”

Yet, 6 months after leaving my last full-time job as a Commissions Analyst, there I was, the newest member on a fast-growing and reputed ICM implementation team.

So ‘never say never’ has become my new motto.

And I hope its yours too.

Sometimes all that stands between us and a leap to a different level of thinking, attitude, behavior, performance or expertise, is believing you can make it to the other side.

And being ready to act.

Because opportunities to grow, change, or start a new life, often come disguised as challenges. You are confronted with a situation you are ill-prepared for. At first, you go “What just happened? What should I do now? How will I handle this when its completely out of my comfort level? I feel so alone and inadequate to this challenge."

At this point, your best friend is courage.  You should be willing to trust yourself. Or have faith in a higher power.

One of my friends recently made a decision to go on a vacation of a lifetime with her husband. It was a vacation she had dreamed about all her life. Her husband was very fearful about the immense cost involved. She quoted this passage from Matthew 6:34 to him:

    25“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?26“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?27“And who of you by being worried can add asingle hour to his life?28“And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,29yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.30“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!31“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’32“For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.33“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

    34“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own

So, yes, you do need to have courage and faith.

And you also need to be prepared to make mistakes. You should not expect when you are doing something new to have instant success. Or to immediately pull it off with style and grace. You may have to fall and get up a few times. There will be situations you come out of, barely scraping through. You should be prepared to say “phew”. Or “appa!”, as a Chennai denizen might. And move on. No matter how much embarrassment and humiliation is involved.

I have some real-life stories to narrate from my own experience.

In my new avatar as an SOS Commissions Analyst and an ICM implementation architect, I have had to endure withering criticism; get cut from projects; be told Pivot Tables and VLookups do not qualify for an “Advanced Excel” label; and in my most recent assignment, deal with a VP of Sales, who kept me on my toes, by saying something to undermine all the work I had done to date. Every month. Without fail.

It was all to the good.

If I once had a Functional Requirements Document decimated and soundly trashed by 5 or 6 different people on an ICM project, I recently heard these words from an experienced and highly regarded ICM implementation architect:  “Minoo, your FRD for……(company name withheld) was the best FRD I have ever read.”

If I once was taken down a peg or two by being told Pivot Tables and Vlookups did not qualify for the label “Advanced Excel”, I have now expanded my portfolio of Excel skills to include Sumifs and Advanced Filters and Macros and Conditional Formatting.

If I once had a VP of Sales complain every month, I made incremental changes to the point where I could see the complaints dropping off.

So the “voila” is out there. I promise you.

It just may take a few false starts, and a few blunders and bloopers before it happens.

In general, I’ve observed the harder the challenges, the bigger the psychic rewards of achieving them. And the more humiliating the initial defeats, the more gratifying the subsequent victory or victories.

Because here’s the thing: Every time you take on a new goal and achieve it, you make a deposit in the bank of optimism and confidence.

A deposit you can tap whenever you feel low. Or unsure. Or inadequate. (If you ever feel uncertain, stop and take inventory of how far you've come, as I recommend in my post How to Feel Good About Yourself When The Chips Are Down).

Meanwhile, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.

By limiting yourself to what you currently are, you are stopping yourself from all the things you could become.

Don’t cling to an artificial identity.

You are not what you’ve been educated to do. Or what you’ve been doing up to this point. You can do other things.  And you may be surprised that it’s not that tough to do them.

I know of an advertising copywriter who became a Commissions Analyst and an ICM implementations architect (guess who).  I know of an Advertising Account Executive who became a stock broker and is now getting ready to publish his first book on Kindle. I know of a civil engineer who became a successful tech recruiter and then became a very successful realtor and a loan agent.  I know of an advertising secretary who became a justice of the peace.

There may be hard work involved.  There may be the humiliation of being a newbie after being Ms. Big Shot or Mr. Big Shot. There may be the risk of making a fool of yourself. But you shouldn’t let that stop you. I didn’t.

Life is not meant to be full of dead ends.

You can make U-turns. 3 point turns. You can ascend to a higher level. You can start over completely.

Minoo, you may ask - why would anyone give me a chance to do something, when they are unsure I can handle the work involved? Aha – good question - here’s where you may have to be creative. To be given the chance to be part of my first implementation team, I agreed to apprentice pay.  I knew I had to do something to get my foot in the door.

So if you are seeking a particular challenge, and there are obstacles, try and think of ways you can get your foot in the door.

Above all, keep an open mind. 

The more I am handed challenges, I initially think I am not up to the task for, but subsequently learn that I can do, the more comfortable I am about taking on new challenges.

Challenges that once seemed like a stretch, but have now become ‘been there done that’ for me, include writing Amazon book reviews (you can read 3 of them here, here and here) and writing White Papers. 

Yes, as we speak, I am adding the finishing touches to some ICM White Papers I have written, slated for publication by Spectrum Technologies,  one of the premier and most visionary ICM implementation companies in the SFO Bay Area.

Once again, you need to think long-term when you are presented with an opportunity disguised as a challenge.

The immediate payoff, in terms of comfort, convenience, money, or recognition, could be small.

It’s the long-term payoff that should be your goal. The confidence.  The credibility. The expanded portfolio of skills. 

Who can beat that?

So what challenge will you say yes to?

What challenge will you seek out?

I hope you will take on the very next challenge that comes your way.

2,4,6,8

Who do we appreciate?

The one with the guts

To put aside the “buts’

and go out on a limb to try something new.

And that would be....

You.

Dear Reader…..thanks for reading and have a great day and week.  See you next week…..M……a Pearl Seeker like you.