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How to Step Outside Your Comfort Zone in 2018 — plus a 15-Minute Challenge from Mike Posner

We run our days on autopilot:

  • The daily commute to work (same roads every day) 🚗
  • Replying to a bunch of emails first thing in the morning 📥
  • Cooking the same dinners and watching the same stuff on TV every night 🍽

#yawn 💤

I get why we do it — it’s hard to step outside of your daily routine and try new things.

But growth happens outside of your comfort zone.

For example, earlier this year I lost focus and felt frustrated in business and life. To get out of my funk, I FINALLY did  something which had  been on my mind for years…

I took a trip to Israel.

I LOVED it. I met cool new people, practiced my Hebrew, and ate tons of delicious food.

Israelis + their dogs

A post shared by Noah Kagan (@noahkagan) on

I learned 3 things from the trip:

  1. I want to say “no” more often so I can focus on the MOST important things
  2. I want to give my team at Sumo more autonomy
  3. I want to meet more people

If I hadn’t have taken this trip, this year probably would have looked very different for me. And I bet this year wouldn’t have been as much fun.

Because I want to help challenge YOU to step outside your box, I wrote this post to help try new things in 2018 (and beyond).

To get in the right mindset before you read this post, here’s a 15-minute minute challenge from Mike Posner.

In this 15-minute reset, learn a new habit you can keep forever.

All relaxed and ready to learn how to step outside your box? Let’s go!

BONUS: Tips I learned from Mark Zuckerberg to make 2018 your best year ever

1. Schedule time for new things

One of the biggest blockers for new experiences is finding time.

We’re all busy, right? Tt can be hard to make time to try new stuff.

This was ALWAYS a huge problem for me.

For years, I wanted to:

  • Hit the gym more 🏋️‍♂️
  • Learn Hebrew 🕍
  • Launch a podcast 🗣

But with growing Sumo, trying for a work-life balance, and everything else I had my priorities set.

Sound familiar?

You tell yourself you’re going to hit the gym today or get started on your business… then BOOM!

Slack messages start coming in, you have fires to put out at work, and next thing you know it’s bed time. 😴

To break the cycle, I plan everything I want to do in my calendar. Once something is added, I can’t skip it.

pasted image 0 6

  • In green I have my health tasks like hitting the gym and fasting
  • Learning time is grey (like Hebrew lessons)
  • Fun stuff / personal time is in pink

Most people only use calendars to plan meetings. But my calendar has become my go-to for planning EVERYTHING. Even my free time and activities with friends.

Sometimes I’ll even add an agenda to my personal meetings to make sure I’m using  the most of the time I’m spending with everyone.

For example, here’s an agenda for the time I spent hanging out with my friend Ian:

pasted image 0 5

When you want to try something new, schedule time so you can’t skip it.

2. You don’t have to commit forever

When I flew to Vegas earlier this year to see my buddy Tynan, he reminded me of something very important.

Change doesn’t have to be permanent.

When you realize you can always adjust, it’s easier to begin testing our new things and finding what works for you.

The true failure is NOT trying. 💯

After my “rich asshole moment,” I recognized I had to change some behaviors. So I started testing things out before committing to them.

For example, when I wanted to buy a new condo, I asked if I could rent it before buying to see if I liked it. Turns out, I didn’t enjoy it… so I didn’t buy it. Could have been an expensive mistake!

This doesn’t just apply to big decisions in your life either.

Say you’re curious to try yoga. If you go to a class and it sucks, you don’t have to stay (just like when I walked out on Tony Robbins). And if you love it, go back. EASY.

If you try something new — hitting the gym, yoga, meditation, whatever — remember that it doesn’t have to permanent. And there’s no shame it dropping a new habit if you don’t enjoy it.

Have you tried the 15-minute meditation from Grammy-nominated artist Mike Posner yet?

3. Cut out the stuff you don’t like

Back in the summer, I had the chance to meet Jesse Itzler.

Jesse is a baller:

  • Cofounded private jet company Marquis Jet, then sold it to Warren Buffett
  • Helped pioneer Zico, which was acquired by Coca-Cola
  • Co-owns the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and is married to Spanx founder Sara Blakely

#goals 💪

But one of my key takeaways from my time with Jesse was his laser-focus on “eliminating the fluff” from his life.

These are the non-essential tasks we spend time on, usually out of habit or because we think we should. For example:

  • Joining every little meeting at work (aka the easiest way to waste 8 hours)
  • Watching a whole movie when you realized it sucks after the first 5 minutes
  • Checking your emails every 30 minutes

All of these things are huge time-sucks.

For example, if you can cut the meetings you attend by 50% it could lead to 15+ extra hours per month.

Suddenly:

  • That podcast you wanted to start is achievable ✅
  • The 20 minutes you wanted to spend meditating… yep, you got it ✅
  • That time you needed to learn to code is available #nomoreexcuses ✅

There’s no rewind button in life. After a day has passed, it’s gone forever. Focus your time on things you WANT to do and cut out all the fluff.

Want to step out of your comfort zone right now?

Listen to this special episode of Noah Kagan Presents and experiment with a guided meditation lead by Mike Posner:

Ready to dominate 2018? Here are more tips to make 2018 your best year ever

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8 responses to “How to Step Outside Your Comfort Zone in 2018 — plus a 15-Minute Challenge from Mike Posner”

Faizan Tanoli
December 25, 2017 at 2:00 pm

Thanks for sharing

Wes
December 18, 2017 at 3:12 pm

Hey Noah,

Just wanted to stop by and say thanks. Listening to the podcast, reading your blog posts and acting on the suggested strategies have been a HUGE help in my professional growth. Since discovering OkDork (first participated in a hosted webinar by you for Groove in December/2016) I’ve proudly brought a SaaS company to over 10k/month profit, released an Android app to the Google Play Store (with absolutely no previous coding experience whatsoever), wrote a romantic comedy movie script and built a subscription box company for launch in early 2018. I know it’s not a lot, success wise, but it’s a giant step forward and I owe a lot of it to your inspirational content. You provide both a unique perspective on business and a humility in character that is truly admirable.

Happy New Year and we’re all really excited to see what you have in store for 2018!

Emmanuel
December 16, 2017 at 7:01 am

Tip 1 is really the foundation; particularly for freelancers or business owners, I’d recommend to schedule the fun or important (growth-inducing) things first and then schedule work and obligations around them. This trick that I implemented early 2017 allowed me to work out or take time off much more while increasing my yearly revenue.

Felix Stefan Dragoi
December 15, 2017 at 2:45 pm

Hey Noah,

I’d probably recommend anyone who wants to listen to this either first thing in the morning or late at night. I think it might be more beneficial in the morning so you’re not reactive during the day but at least to start, it might be a good idea to listen to it in bed when there’s really nothing on your mind.

It’s definitely something new, but that’s what makes okdork special after all.

//Felix

Pawan Lama
December 15, 2017 at 12:51 pm

I like it..

Mikaj
December 15, 2017 at 9:10 am

Very helpful. Thank you. I had a different energy after completing this guided meditation. It inspired me to try this again. Happy Hanukkah.

Patte Shetler
December 14, 2017 at 1:14 pm

Wow! Thank you for the gift! I read Jesse’s book this year and it was pretty amazing. I really appreciate you sharing this and will listen to the 15-minute guided meditation until the end of 2017. Maybe it will become a 2018 routine.

Emma
December 14, 2017 at 12:25 pm

Thank you so much Noah and Mike! This was beautiful (listened straight from the email) and the post is totally the kind I need to keep reading right now. I’ve been meditating at least daily for almost 80 days now, my most consistent practice to date, and I’m loving it, and I treasured this time with Mike’s gentle voice and kind attitude. Fantastic way to start my morning. Thank you.

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