IT’S A TRAP

There are two traps that hinder your growth. One is the fear trap. You are afraid to leave your comfort zone. It is impossible to become more than you already are without getting outside of your comfort zone. And the other is the comparison trap. This trap makes you feel immobilized and defeated when you think aren’t as successful as someone else. People caught in this trip begin to feel like losers, think like losers, and act like losers.

You can change the way you think about these two things. It should be comforting to know there is hope because once you step outside your comfort zone you begin to grow again. A wise person has said, "Get out on a limb, that's where the fruit is." Stepping outside of your comfort zone represents the hope of growth. It represents the beginning of something new.

Let's talk about the second trap, the comparison trap. When someone succeeds at something that you have not, believe it or not, that should give you hope. If they can do it, it means it is possible to do. Instead of being defeated, you should realize that you now have a new resource and a new friend to help you become successful. Make successful people your role models and mentors, even if you are peers. They can show you the way.

Remember the only path to true success is win-win. Not win-lose. Not lose-win. And certainly not in what happens when you are consciously or unconsciously in the comparison trap, which is lose-lose. The comparison trap says, “If I can't be there, I don't want you to be there either.”