10 Ways To Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone

In 2014 I did a project where I did 100 different things. Here’s 10 of them.

1. Take a REALLY long walk

I walked from my house near the midway airport in Chicago and walked to downtown. Took me about 5 hours and I was exhausted by the end. But I saw so many things I hadn’t noticed before along the way. Sometimes when you’re going too fast, you mean something. Taking it slow helps you to stay in the moment. Then I took an uber home. Try taking a long walk in your own town!

2. Got Kicked out of the NBC building

I was walking downtown and saw the NBC building. I wondered what it would be like to go to the very top and look out the window. So I went in, saw the elevator and went up. I walked through several people and nobody said anything. As soon as I got out of the elevator someone in a grey suit stopped me and escorted me out of the building. I’m no longer allowed in there. Sorry to the doorman, I hope he didn’t get in trouble.

3. Asked people for a free hug

I’ve seen many people do this. I’m naturally a shy person around new people, so this was very scary to me. I got lots of hugs though. It’s nice to see that people out in the world are generally good people.

4. Wake up early and See the sunrise

There’s something about seeing the sun rise in the morning. Makes you feel like the whole day is yours. Endless possibilities. Back to bed.

5. Interview someone

I emailed Seth Godin at the time, someone I admire a lot, and let him know what I was doing. I asked him if I could interview him for 15 min. He said, “happy to do 15 min.” So I set a timer and we talked for 15 min. One of my favorite moments.

6. Send 10 ideas to someone

I was working at a Vietnamese restaurant as a cook at the time. I wrote 10 ideas to the owner on how they could improve their business. They were so impressed they asked me to meet with them to chat some more about them.

7. No phone for a day

It’s amazing how much time we waste checking for updates on our phone. It felt like I was a kid back in the 90s, playing outside instead of sitting at home on my phone or computer. I miss those days.

8. Write an ad on Craigslist to help someone with their copywriting for Free

I didn’t have much practice writing copywriting. But I was reading a lot about it and at the time, I was really interested. Several people wrote back! I sent a bunch of copywriting ideas to several people with websites. I don’t think they used any of it, but they gave me some nice reviews.

9. Lay on the floor of a busy street

At the time, I just wanted to get out of my own shell. I cared too much what people thought of me. So I laid down on the sidewalk in the middle of Michigan Ave. People walked by and hardly no one even noticed. I learned a lot there.

10. Write a book in a few days

I wrote a book about investing in yourself. It was terrible. I wrote it in about a week, and used fiver to get someone to design a cover. Then I self published on amazon for 99 cents. I think it sold about copies. But it made me believe that I’m capable of publishing a book. We all are!