Is Your Comfort Zone Suffocating Your Potential | How to Break Complacency and Grow - EP# 30

Your comfort zone may feel safe, but it could be suffocating your potential.

Episode 30 of The Designers of Change Podcast explores why complacency keeps people stuck and how comfort can quietly steal growth, purpose, and opportunity.

When we become too comfortable, progress slows. Routines take over. Desire fades. Opportunities pass by because we are no longer stretching, learning, or improving.

In this episode we discuss
 How comfort blocks growth
 Why complacency makes life harder over time
 How stagnation kills purpose and momentum
 Why missed opportunities happen when you stop evolving
 Practical ways to break free through risk, incremental change, and a fail forward mindset

Great things rarely come from staying comfortable.

Growth begins when you are willing to move beyond what feels familiar.

🎙️ Watch now https://youtu.be/8BDlNeU1Iro

#DesignersOfChange #ComfortZone #PersonalGrowth #GrowthMindset #SuccessMindset #PurposeDriven #SelfDevelopment 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Coming up on this episode of the Designers of Change podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:04

You can't grow by being just being comfortable. Wow. Your potential will stagnate. It's like your muscle, if your muscle never reached have any resistance, any any weight, then your muscle is not going to be developed.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

A lot of people get caught in this trap, you know, because we believe that to, you know, people believe that to have a good life, you have to be comfortable. So in other words, when you don't have any problems, that's when it's successful. But isn't it true that it's the reverse? It is the reverse. Because in order for you to grow, you have to be facing challenges. Welcome to the Designers of Change podcast. We are at episode 30. I cannot believe this. I remember when Jamar and I just started and we said, listen, this is our very first episode. Unbelievable to see the magic that we have created alongside Jace Mary Media. And guess what? We have more magic today for you. I hope you're excited because we're gonna be talking about is your comfort zone suffocating your potential?

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Of course. I think one of the things about the the comfort zone is that it stifle our growth. Because when we I think is every human being, we want to reach a level of comfort in us where we have no problems, where our minds are clear.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

What a life.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

We can just live life without there is no heartache or no awesome. But here's the thing you can't grow by being just being comfortable.

SPEAKER_04 1:52

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Your potential will stagnate. It's like your muscle, if your muscle never have any resistance, any any weight, then your muscles not going to be developed.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

You know, we live in a generation, I want to call it not, I don't want to disfle a bit disrespectful to anybody, but it's like we are living in an epidural generation where we want to give birth to a big baby, a big dream, but we don't want to feel any pain.

SPEAKER_04 2:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

And so you can't isolate growth from being in a in a level of resistance. So growth needs something that that that is a bit of obstacle that that that that will force you to grow. And so when we find ourselves in our comfort zone, just like any like stagnant water that is not moving, we become stagnant. And guess what? Stagnant water attracts bacteria. Right. And so when we become stagnant in our life, we stop growing. We remain still. And guess what? Nothing in life remains the way it is.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

So you're either getting better or you are getting worse. So you're not going to just eat plateau and remain at plateau forever. You are either you once you eat plateau and you are there, you plateaued for a while, you are going to go into decline if you're not intentional about getting out of that plateau to grow.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

That's powerful. So, in other words, complacency is dangerous.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

It is dangerous for you to be in that same job. You're not growing, there's no promotion. There's nothing that can be accounted for as progress. That's a serious problem. It's dangerous for you to be in a relationship that seems to be the same always. Nothing has changed, nothing has advanced. It's it's it's definitely dangerous when you, as a person, you have not progressed. That tells us that you are moving in a decline. Because after the plateau, after staying one place for a particular period of time, sure enough, if you're not intentionally growing, you're declining. And so it's dangerous for you to be at that one place and you're not moving. But you know, I want to say something. You have people who believe that it is their life's mission for their life to remain the same always.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

That's dangerous because you're going to die as Mr. and Mrs. Average. Wow. And so when you take your last breath, nobody will even recognize that you are here. There are many people who say, I know, I just want to be comforted.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

I just want to make, I just want to have enough money to live comfortably, and that's it. They don't want nothing more.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

And that's it. But if that is like, if that is you, then you are going to fall to the bottom of whatever field you are in. Because growth requires a level of getting out of the comfort zone. The thing about comfort zone is that it leads to one stagnation. You become like stagnant water. Here's the thing: nobody travels to look at stagnant water. We are not impressed by stagnant water. We don't know, you know what, we are going to stand in front of a pool of dirty stagnant water and we do a selfie and post it on social media. No. We went and we look at falls because the falls is actually moving. So when you are stagnant, another thing that stagnation leads to is miss opportunity. If you're in your comfort zone, comfort zone, like complacency. Complacency. You become stagnant, then you are going to miss opportunity. Here's why you will miss opportunity. Because you are not getting better. If you were, let's say if you were a blockbuster and you are still using DVD, you are a company that makes DVD, you make cassettes. If you are in today's world, you are not going to exist anymore. Because now we we we move on to a different era of streaming. And so that skill that you have used back then, if you are a typewriter person, you can't exist in an AI world, right? Right. And so you your skill from moving from typewriter to knowing AI allows you to gain opportunity. But if you are stagnant, you are not growing, you are not moving, then you are in a place of complacency, you're in your comfort zone, and that comfort zone is going to allow you to miss opportunity because you are not getting better. And for you to grasp opportunity, opportunity needs a level of growth because things change. I was telling someone recently when we were doing our corporate training that when I graduated from university with my degree in marketing in 2010, I did no course in social media marketing. There was nothing about social media marketing in my four years because I start my first degree in 26, in 2006, and then I graduated in 2010. So my degree in marketing was obsolete the very day. You left university because I did no course in social media. So what if I did not change? What if I did not grow? What if I did not become? Then I would miss out. My marketing degree would absolutely mean nothing in today's digital world where every single thing has changed.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

So, in other words, if you are one of those people who prefer to be in the comfort zone, you prefer mediocrity, you prefer average, what it then means is that your skills, your presence, what you bring to the table is no longer needed.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

No, it's no longer needed.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Far past that stage. And a lot of people get caught in this trap, you know, because we believe that to, you know, people believe that to have a good life, you have to be comfortable. So in other words, when you don't have any problems, that's when they're successful. But isn't it true that it's the reverse?

SPEAKER_00 7:56

It is the reverse.

SPEAKER_02 7:57

Because in order for you to grow, you have to be facing challenges.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

You have to be facing challenges. Not only that, but when you when you when you when you remain in your comfort zone, you are no longer creative. You are no longer innovative. Because many times, especially in an organization, an organization relies on yesterday's, yesterday's success. So EU worship yesterday. We remain in it. You know about the one-it-wanderer, they are still talking about yesterday, big, massive it songs. So today they have not written anything new, they have not studied anything new. The company that invented so and so in in the 1990s, they have not invented anything new today. And so that current industry has changed, it has transformed. And so when you remain in a level of comfort, in a level of complacency, then your whatever you have accomplished in that in those times, it will it will take its time and dwindle away. And you will no longer be creative because creative creativity requires a level of you destroying your own success. You learning more things, you getting better, you getting up and you moving forward. So the person who remained, the company who remaining yesterday, success. The leaders who remain complacent, they are not, they are no longer being creative because their last big thing has become their big thing. So getting out of your own comfort zone, doing an autopsy on your own success is very vital for your growth. And so comfort comfort zone really and truly stifles a person's potential because your potential needs resistance to grow, your potential needs challenges to grow, your potential need new ways to grow, your potential new needs new thinking to grow. But when you are inside that comp comp complacency, that bubbles, it gives you an illusion as if as if everything is okay. But but day by day, you are becoming obsolete, your potential is with um is going away, the market has changed, people have moved on. But you you will not see that through the prism of arm through your eyes in the moment. But uh but if you were to look back, you'd have seen that there's so much change and that things are changing. So people who are in the comfort zone, they are really dying slowly.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

That's so powerful. And here's another thing: you need problems in order for you to actually progress. So those same issues, those troubles, those obstacles are the ones that are going to sharpen your skills, make you think more, allow you to be more creative, innovative. And guess what? A company cannot exist if it doesn't solve a problem.

SPEAKER_04 11:06

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

You you're not existing just to be there. People come to you because there are issues that you have to resolve for them, and that's how you get paid.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Yes, that's how you get paid. Right?

SPEAKER_02 11:19

That's how people come to you for their services and for your services and your products. So if it is that you don't want to face the resistance, then that is also telling me that you don't want to be in demand. Yes, yes, you have to be a problem solver. So to have that easy life, you have no problems to solve. Isn't that isn't that amazing that you know that very thing that you're running from is the very thing that can take you to the next level. Now, we wanna take a quick break when we get back. We wanna continue on why it's important for us to step outside of the comfort zone so that we are not suffocating our true potential. Stick and stay. We were just having such a great discussion about why we have to escape the comfort zone because the comfort zone is suffocating our true potential. We want to say a huge thank you to our amazing sponsors, to Jace Marin Media, for making us look good and sound good each and every time. You know, we have a tagline that says, once a plane can take us to you, we can get to you. So if you need training, any HR consultancy services, recruitment, you name it, we will be there once you engage our services. Also, Amanda, Amanda's Kitchen, Grace Creates, Caribbean Gospel TV, Mag 247 Wrecking Services, Regional Consulting Services, all the way in K-Man, the self-care bar, Jess is home decor, proactive, lifestyle limited, and SKRing. We thank you for partnering with us. Now, Mr. Red, just before we went to the break, I I mentioned something. The very same thing that's going to help you to propel is this thing that people are running from. So people are running from the problems, the resistance, the issues, you know, you know, the different embarrassing phases when you're starting up and things don't work out, and you feel like a failure, and you want to quit, and all those different things. But how important is failure to stepping out of your comfort zone?

SPEAKER_00 13:53

I mean, you know, the bed is a the bed is a very comfortable place.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

But if you spend all of your life in the bed, you will never become anything. That's funny. Yeah, if you if you spend your entire life in a bed, lying and sleeping around, you will never become anything. But failure is so important. The thing about failure is that we learn from an early age, especially in school, that failure is a bad thing. Because our parents usually punish us for getting a D.

SPEAKER_02 14:28

When the grades not looking good.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

When grades not looking good, our teacher chastises us when our grades are not looking good. And in our Caribbean context, sometimes when you get poor grades, you don't get to go to the best school. And so, in that sense, failure we learn from earlier that failure is a bad thing and it's very painful. Nobody really wants to fail. But in life, for you to become successful, we have to fail forward.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

Powerful.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

We have to get a return from failure. And how do we get a return from failure? By learning from those mistakes. And here's the thing the person in life who failed the most and learned the most from his or her success. No, from his or her failure is usually the person who succeeds in life.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

And so there's a quote say to achieve greatly, I think you must fail greatly. And so if you fail greatly, as as bad as failure is, sometimes as painful as it is. As it is painful, sometimes sometimes it is the best thing. Because what you are saying is that you have tried something, you have done something, but you in that moment you probably weren't successful. You are not successful. But if you can learn from it and build on it, and guess what? Guess what? When you fail, you are building resistance, you are building your fate muscle, you are building your character, building resilience, resilience in life. And so if you constantly go to go through life where there is no form of pain, where there is no obstacle, then we are not building character, we are not building resilience, and life requires resilience. You cannot go through life without having any kind of resilience. Let me look in the camera. You cannot go through life without having any kind of resilience. If you are not going through anything, you're not building any resilience. And so when you when you fail and learn from it, you can fail forward, you can get a return from failure. But there are many people who have failed, but they don't get a return from failure. But when you fail forward, it pulls you out of your comfort zone, it builds resilience and it builds faith.

SPEAKER_02 16:49

Powerful, powerful, powerful. So sometimes we want to stay at a place because we don't want to go through the pain of failure. But it's the pain of failure that's going to take you to that next place that you need to go to. Um, I I really, you know, wish we could drill this in our young people's head because you know they have a different view of what success is, what it looks like, how long it should take. And at this stage, do you realize like there is a culture of bare minimum that is taking over the world?

SPEAKER_04 17:23

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

If you're on the job, you just do the bare minimum, you just do what's required of you, you're not doing anything extra. But what we're learning is if you're always within the comfort zone zone, you will never meet the true you.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

It's like lying in, it's like laying in the bed all of your life. You will never grow, you will never become anybody. The bed is comfortable, but it is not the place for you to be for it for the rest of your life. Now, getting out of the comfort zone, as I say, it requires discomfort, it requires a level of discomfort. And we are at get how do we get out of your comfort zone? First, we say you must fail forward. You are going to fail. The second one it requires discomfort. Do you know when the eagles want the eaglets to learn to fly? The eaglet must the eagle must stir. It must stir the nest so that the nest becomes um it is not comfortable for the eaglet. Now, if the nest is is always comfortable for the eaglets, the eaglet will never learn to fly. And so the eagle must have to pick up the eaglet and drop the eaglet over. And by the failing, by the flapping, the eaglets learn to fly. By being pushed over the cliff by the nest being store, and so the eagle watch the eaglet in transition as they push it over the precipite and the e the eaglet learn to fly. That's how discomfort disrupts our life and allow us to learn to fly. We build our wings on the way down. Now, if those eaglet nests were never stirred, those eaglets will would have never learned to fly and become the very thing that it was supposed to do. And so in life, this comfort is there to stir the nest for you, for you to get out of your nest, for you to fly, and sometime, sometime God allowed the storm.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

I was gonna say that.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

You say it.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

I was gonna say that because remember now you know with the with the eagle, the eagle knows already that she needs her eaglet to find their own wings. So she actually creates her nest out of thorns. Their thorns in the the nest is is is done with thorns in them, and she puts leaves or whatever to pad it, but over a period of time she starts stirring it because she wants the thorns to to poke them. So if they don't jump out on their own free will, she drops them, but she is literally creating that uncomfortable situation so that they learn to fly. Likewise, as Mr. Wright says, God allows the storm, he will allow the storm to come into your life because he knows that the Natasia after the storm is going to be so much greater than the passive Natasia before. Do you understand what I'm saying? And so understand that the comfort zone is not meant, it's it's not meant well, the comfort zone will not develop you, you didn't develop you.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

You need that that level of discomfort in your life to find out who the true you is, and you just have to understand that listen, small consistent changes. You know, one thing I want to mention to you when I just started walking, it was just so weird, it was so uncomfortable. My back hurt, my leg hurt, my hands hurt, everywhere was a problem, everything was a problem. I was sweating too much, and then guess what? After weeks of walking consistently, even when I'm even when it's the hill, sometimes I breeze through that hill so quickly, I'm like, hmm, I'm done. And I'm saying that was pretty fast. Over a period of time, the discomfort goes away.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Yes, yes. So so make small changes in order to get out of your comfort zone. Another way, another way you to get out of your comfort zone is to take calculative risk. What do we say? Take calculative risk. No, we are not telling you to go there and take any reckless risk because any risk that will wipe you out in one go is not worth taking. But what we are saying is take calculative risk. What we are doing with this podcast is actually taking calculative risk, right? Because we get Jace and his team to develop our podcast. The truth is, we don't know if anybody will. Watch the podcast and listen to the podcast. But we take calculative risks in producing this podcast because we want to disseminate our information, our ideas. We want to expose people to and to other people who have learned been learned in their field. It's such a word. They are expert in their field. And so whatever you are going to do, if you don't take calculative risk, your faith will never develop. Because when you are taking calculative risk, there's a possibility or there's a probability that you may fail. But guess what? Your faith is working. Your vision is working. Your potential is working. And guess what? You are pulling in resources into yourself. And you are developing all of those muscles. You are developing discipline. You are developing faith. You are developing strength. Inner strength. And so you need to take calculative risk that will pull you outside of your comfort zone. If you are not taking any risk at all, that is calculating risk. You are not growing. You are not moving because guess what? Growth and success is always up here. And guess what, babes? There's no such thing as fear. There's no in life, there's no such thing. And I've made it fear. If you have made it fear, then you are stopped growing. You will land into another place of comfort. There's no place as fear. Success is always uphill. So when you climb, when you get out of that valley and you hit a mountain, guess what? You have to search for another mountain to keep on going. You must always be climbing because success is uphill. We are not going to die in our in our in our comfort zone. And as I've said before, God has sometimes God allows the storms to store our nets like the eagle, storing the eaglet nest so that the eaglet can get out of the nest, so that they can be pushed over, so that they can learn to flap and develop those wings to fly, to become the very thing that they were to become. And so if you are in your nest today, if you are an eaglet and you are in your nest today, you will never become an eagle and sore to heights that is animanage. And so you have to get out of your nest. You're a you're a great eagle inside of you. There's a seed of greatness, you're much more potential. There's more to what you are doing right now. You are a seed that needs to be planted into the right environment so that you can become that great account, that massive tree, and be a brand, and be a branches, be a fruit for the next generation. So get out of your own way. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

Oh dear. Thank you guys so much for sticking and staying with us for this episode. Um, a very thought-provoking one because sometimes comfort is really our downfall, and we cannot produce anything worthwhile in that stage. So, guys, uh, if you are not following us on uh YouTube, go check us out over there, subscribe so you can see our beautiful faces, beautiful and handsome face. If you are not on the podcast platforms, maybe you want to go check us out on Amazon Music, Spotify, or Apple Podcast. We are there as well. We appreciate your support. We appreciate you taking the time out to hear us out, and we are also appreciative of our wonderful sponsors to Jace Myrie Media, Mind Food International, Superletive Auto, Grace Creates Amanda's Kitchen, the Self Care Bar, Jesse's Home Decor, Max 247 Wrecking Services, also Regional Consulting Services in K-Man. Also, want to give a huge shout out to SK Catering and Caribbean Gospel TV. Also, Proactive Lifestyle Limited. We appreciate the support and the partnership. You want to stick and stay? We have more episodes coming up soon.