Be comfortably awkward for career success

The art of being comfortably awkward for career success

As a coach of managers and staff at the frontline, the greatest barrier to career improvement that I see is fear.

Fear is one of the greatest inhibitors to growth and improvement.

Fear of not knowing what to do, fear of never having done it before; fear of feeling awkward when you’re asked to step out of your comfort zone and try some new things.

Fear keeps people stuck, and unwilling to try something a little bit different, a little bit beyond what they think they’re capable of.

The trouble is if you want to get better at something like improving your career, stepping out of your comfort zone is the only way.

If you really want a successful career, you have to come to terms with this and learn to become comfortable with those awkward moments where you’re trying something new, because that’s where the magic happens.

It’s in those moments where you try something different and you’re a little bit anxious, a little bit scared but you give it a go, where true career growth and change really comes from.

If you’re in that situation right now where you’re feeling the pressure to perform and you’ve sort of been resisting it, I encourage you to take the plunge into the unknown.

For that is where you can achieve some incredible outcomes.

How to overcome fear in your career

Crucially, this where the support of a coach is invaluable.

What a good coach should do is create an environment where its okay to be uncomfortable, where staff are supported in pushing boundaries, trying new things, making mistakes.

A great coach helps you to embrace the awkwardness as a normal, natural component of a continuous improvement process.

So learning to become COMFORTABLY AWKWARD is a critical step to transition to a new stage of competency and improvement.

Once you’ve done this a few times, it’s incredible how comfortable, discomfort becomes.

Weird, but true.

No pain, no gain as they say.

Recommended further reading: How and why to get a business mentor

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