Episode 32 How to Get Out of Your Leadership Comfort Zone

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Welcome to Unstuck and Unstoppable,

the podcast for ambitious female

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leaders who want to create more impact,

income, and influence in their careers.

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feel connected to their passion

and purpose, but without

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selling out or burning out.

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I'm Sarah Archer, a leadership coach

and career strategist, helping women

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like you thrive in leadership roles

while staying true to your values.

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I'm the founder of CareerTree

Coaching and have over 15 years of

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coaching experience and significant HR

leadership experience to share with you.

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I know as a female leader it can

be hard to find time to focus

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on your career aspirations.

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The day job can be all consuming.

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Plus, no matter how senior you are,

there are always going to be times

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when you feel stuck, when you have

self doubt, or feel like an imposter.

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And that's where unstuck

and unstoppable comes in.

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Each week I'll be sharing practical

strategies, insightful interviews and

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inspiring stories to help you boost

your confidence, lead with purpose

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and achieve sustainable success.

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If you're ready to stop playing

small and unlock the incredible

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potential you have within you and feel

unstoppable, you're in the right place.

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Let's get started.

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Welcome to episode 32, how to Get

Outta Your Leadership Comfort Zone.

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I'm really pleased you're here

with me today, and I do hope

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you enjoy today's session.

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. I felt that this was a good topic because

I've been working with somebody recently.

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She's a chief exec and she's been in

her role for about six years and she's

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definitely stuck in her comfort zone

and we were talking about some of the

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things that she wants to do and needs

to do to move her career forward.

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She's ready to move on to

something new and she has got

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a lot of stuff coming up that.

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Means she doesn't want to

get outta her comfort zone.

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So it doesn't matter where you are in your

career, there's always going to be, that

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need to get outta your comfort zone and

that reluctance or fears around doing it.

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So I thought it would be a really

good topic to explore in terms of that

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leadership comfort zone, because sometimes

as a leader, you also don't have a choice.

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You just have to take on that thing

that you've never done before because

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the business needs it, your team needs

it, your department needs it, whatever

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it might be, and you just have to go.

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Yes, I will do that.

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Not necessarily knowing how

to do it or not having the

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experience of doing it before.

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And so the reason why it's good to now be

thinking about getting outta your comfort

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zone on a regular basis is because the

more you get outta your comfort zone,

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the easier it is to then face times when

you have to get out of it because the

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business is pushing you to get out of it.

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So we're gonna explore that today and

come up with some strategies to help

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you make that first move outta your

comfort zone if you are stuck there

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or you've been there for a while, I.

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Let's just think about

what is a comfort zone.

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Obviously it's a safe space.

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It's a space that feels familiar.

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You feel in control in that space.

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And you are probably performing

well in your comfort zone.

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You're competent, you can deliver and

it's all ticking along quite nicely.

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And by its very nature, it is comfortable.

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You don't really want to get outta

this like having a, your favorite,

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comfortable pair of slippers, even though

they're wearing thing, you don't want

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to get rid of them because they just

feel great, feel really nice and comfy.

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Now I'm gonna tell you the reasons why

we need to get out of our comfort zone.

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And in my career and in my business,

I have definitely been forced to

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get outta my comfort zone on a

number of occasions which I'm

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gonna reference a little bit today.

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If you stay in your comfort zone,

it can lead to stagnation because

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you are not moving forward.

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You're not learning, you're not

growing, so you can stagnate and feel

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a bit stale in that comfort zone.

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And the most important reason to get

out of our comfort zone is because to

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perform at the top of our game, to be

our best and performing really well, we

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need something called optimal anxiety.

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Now, my definition of optimal

anxiety is stretch, but not stress.

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It's having that challenge that feels like

you're gonna be stretched, but you're not.

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Being pulled too far that it's gonna feel

really stressful in your comfort zone.

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There's no optimal anxiety.

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You only get it when you're

stepping outta your comfort zone.

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And it enables you to perform really well.

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That's what we want.

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We want to have that challenge

because also it enables us to grow.

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We grow personally, we

grow professionally.

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We have that stimulation.

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We're learning new things,

increases our confidence.

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And it gives us a chance to take

advantage of opportunities and

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possibilities that we might not see

if we're stuck in our comfort zone.

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Plus, and you will recognize this when

you do something new, when you step

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out of your comfort zone, you get an

immediate dopamine reward in the brain.

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The courage circuit in the brain, is

activated so if you move towards the

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potential threat and obviously getting

outta your comfort zone, the brain

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would perceive as a potential threat

when you move towards it rather than.

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Fleeing away from it.

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The courage circuit is activated.

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You get the dopamine reward, which then

means you start to, because it's quite

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nice getting that dopamine reward.

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It feels good.

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You start to then see those potential

threats if we like getting outta your

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comfort zone as positive because you

know you're going to get dopamine reward.

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So it gives you fuel for

doing more new things.

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There's lots of really positive reasons

why we need to get outta our comfort zone.

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But also when we are in a leadership role

it's really important that we step outta

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our comfort zone because we need to do

more strategic work in a leadership role.

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And sometimes you might recognize

this, the operational work

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can feel like a comfort zone.

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We know we're really good

at the operational stuff.

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We're really competent at it.

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We can do it really quickly.

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So it's easy to do it and maybe

some of that strategic work

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feels a bit more challenging.

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And we can sometimes

feel I'll just do that.

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I.

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Operational piece.

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Whereas actually, if we delegate

that, it frees up to do more of that

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strategic work and we're perceived

as a strategic partner then.

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I had a client, she was

a financial controller.

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I.

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And she was in a new role and what

she was noticing is that she was

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getting requests from senior team

to do particular pieces of work or

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give them particular information.

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And she knew she was really quick at

it, so she was responding to them and

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giving them that information really

quickly or that piece of information,

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whatever it was that they needed.

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But what was happening is that they

were seeing her as an operational,

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individual rather than a strategic

partner because she was responding.

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She recognized , even though she could do

it really quickly, she needed to delegate

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it to her team, even if it meant they

took a little bit longer to do it so that

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they were responding to those senior team

members and she was freed up to do more

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strategic work with those team members,

those senior team members, rather than.

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Doing, delivering the operational stuff.

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As a leader, you do need to recognize,

am I, sitting more in the operational

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work because it's comfortable than in the

strategic leadership elements of the work.

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Pushing yourself out of your comfort

zone as a leader can mean that you

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can free yourself by delegating

some of that comfort zone work.

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There have been times when I've had

to step out of my comfort zone so

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some more successfully than others.

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A few years ago I was approached

to do some radio interviews for

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national radio are on career topics.

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This was before I'd done

all these lives before.

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I'd done webinars, before, I'd

run my challenges, and it was

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way out of my comfort zone.

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And so I self-sabotaged.

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I would avoid the calls from the

journalists coming in, asking

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me, or even I would recommend

other people, other coaches to

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do the interviews rather than me.

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'cause I was really scared about.

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Going on live radio and having

to think on my feet felt it was

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really out of my comfort zone.

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But I started to recognize it

would be great for my business.

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I was, asked on a regular BA ish basis and

so I had to do the work on myself to go,

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okay, I'm gonna say yes to the next one.

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And so the next one that came in was

going on Emma Barnett's show on Radio

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five, the show she was doing at the time.

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And so I said yes to it.

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I was.

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Super scared.

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But I forced myself to go in.

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It was going into the

BBC studios to do it.

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I was on there with a comedian,

so I was doing the kind of

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serious career stuff and he was.

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Taking the proverbial.

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But it was a great experience and when I

emerged into Portland Place, I was like,

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oh my God, that was just the best thing

I've ever done and I really enjoyed it.

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And now feel much more confident

going to do those kind of things.

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But at the time.

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I could see that I was stuck in my

comfort zone and I had to do some work

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to get out of it, to move that forward.

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It can be challenging getting outta

your comfort zone because there are lots

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of reasons why we don't want to do it.

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Some of that is fear of failure.

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So that sense of, yeah, but

what if I don't do it very well?

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Some of it can be fear of judgment.

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What are the people gonna think

about me because I'm stepping

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out of my comfort zone, I'm doing

something I haven't done before.

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Some of it is fear of the unknown.

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Now, as a leader you are often

having to deal with the unknown.

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, Some of the things you might be having to

do are maybe leading a restructure, maybe

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constructively challenging the C-suite,

maybe having a difficult conversation

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with a member of your team might be

presenting to the whole organization.

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Might be, doing a town hall.

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Meeting, it might be

pitching for resources.

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It could be developing strategy.

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It could be having to

influence to get buy-in.

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It might be having to work

with the board on something.

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There are lots of things as a leader

you're going to be having to do at

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some point in your leadership career.

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Which is why the more we can get out

of our comfort zone in a managed way

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enables us to then feel more confident

about doing some of these things that

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we can't necessarily control when

they're going to happen, when we're

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gonna have to do that difficult thing.

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When I was an HR director, I.

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I had to manage my first employment

tribunal following a disciplinary.

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I'd never done that before.

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That was, super scary way

outta my comfort zone.

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I had to lead an organizational

restructure in one of the organizations

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due to financial challenges.

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I.

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That the charity was facing,

and I'd never done that before.

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The CEO resigned.

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I had to lead the recruitment

process for a new CEO.

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I'd never done that before.

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And all these things, they were great

experiences, but at the time, leading

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up to it, it was definitely having to.

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Prepare myself to, to get outta my

comfort zone and do that piece of work.

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The more you can get outta your comfort

zone on a regular basis, in a small

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managed way, which we'll talk about today,

the easier it's going to be when you're

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faced with some of those bigger challenges

that you're going to have to do.

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One of the other barriers can

also be about, confidence.

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Feeling that lack of

confidence that you can do it.

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But remember, when you do get

outta your comfort zone, that's

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going to boost your confidence.

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So if you're doing it on a regular

basis, getting outta your comfort zone,

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then it's going to help with feeling

confident about taking on some of those

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bigger challenges, bigger pieces of work.

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Let me take you through a few

strategies that you can think about

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to start getting outta your comfort

zone on a more regular basis.

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One of the things I say to

my clients when we're talking

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about this is to start small.

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I.

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Because if you imagine your comfort

zone, and I often describe this, so if

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you imagine a, a box with your comfort

zone, that's where you are at the moment.

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And then outside that small box

is another box, and then another

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box, and then another box.

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And we want to keep moving through

those boxes to grow and to expand.

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But if you move from that

comfort zone into box four.

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That's going to be stress

rather than stretch.

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So it's thinking about, okay, I want to

be moving into the next comfort zone.

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So starting small and doing things

that feel manageable, but that are

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still going to give you that bit

of stretch, that bit of challenge.

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I can think now with my radio experience,

because I hadn't done any of the live

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work that I've done since COVID happened.

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I was going from that small comfort zone

box into box four going on the radio.

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Whereas now if I was asked to do

it and I hadn't done it before, I'd

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feel much more confident about doing,

'cause I'm regularly, doing Facebook

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lives, LinkedIn lives, I do webinars.

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I've run my live challenges.

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I'm much more confident

with that whole live piece.

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So it's starting small.

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And then setting yourself clear goals.

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Defining what you want to achieve because

if you remember, the comfort zone is

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that safe space where you are performing.

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Okay.

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You're not performing.

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So you've gotta have a motivation to

leave it because it is comfortable.

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So setting some goals about what

you want to achieve or what it

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will give you by moving out your

comfort zone will really help you.

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To push yourself into that next next zone.

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And then when , you've identified the

thing you want to do, visualizing success

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can be helpful to mentally prepare

for moving outta your comfort zone.

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For example, if you chosen to, maybe

at this next management meeting that

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you are going to lead on a particular

topic and you haven't done that before.

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Just visualizing that success going

well, reminding yourself about the

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skills that you have that what your

strengths are, what you're going to

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bring to this will help you to feel more

confident and for it to go positively.

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Doing that mental preparation,

visualizing success can be really helpful.

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The next bit of advice I would

give you is to seek support.

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'cause sometimes when we're

stepping outta our comfort zone,

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we think we have to go it alone.

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We have to do it just on our own.

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But actually, you can

think about what do I need?

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To help me move outta that comfort zone

into the next comfort zone successfully.

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That might be about getting support

from your boss or from a peer.

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It might be about finding a mentor,

having some coaching thinking about

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resources that you might need.

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I was working with a client who

was wanting to become a more

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credible presenter and getting

outta her comfort zone by being

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able to present to the board.

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What she did is she asked a peer who was

going to be at a meeting that she was

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presenting at to give her some feedback

after that particular presentation.

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And it really helped her to then use

that feedback to prepare for when she

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was presenting to the board, which

was getting out of her comfort zone.

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And she got some really positive feedback,

so it helped boost her confidence as well.

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Thinking about what you need to help

you move into that next comfort zone.

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And then the other thing

would be to embrace.

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Failure because, , there's probably

a high likelihood that you are not

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going to be perfect when you step

out of the comfort zone because

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you're gonna do something new.

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'cause you're gonna learn something

that you have to accept that it

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might not go brilliantly, but

you're going to learn from it.

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That it's.

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Gonna be an experience that's

gonna help you progress.

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So getting outta your comfort zone in

your personal life can help as well.

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So for me, I started learning salsa last

year, which was way outta my comfort zone.

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I'm still there, I'm still doing it.

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I'm now on level three, which I feel

quite good about, but I had to get

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over the fact that I knew I was not

going to be very good when I started.

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And to embrace the fact that I might

actually be really rubbish and I

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might not, carry on with it because I

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might have two left feet.

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Knowing that failure's okay, and it's

part of the process can be really helpful.

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And reframing it I don't

have to be amazing at this.

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I'm going to be able to learn from it.

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And that's why the support

element is really important to.

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What you can think about is what could you

start with that could help you feel more

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comfortable leaving that comfort zone?

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It could be about doing something

like requesting a recommendation on.

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'cause it's always great to have

recommendations on your LinkedIn profile.

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For some people that can feel quite scary.

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So that could be getting

outta your comfort zone.

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It might be thinking about something

at work that you want to experience

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that you could say, I'm going

to lead on this particular thing

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that you haven't done before.

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And again, thinking about what

support you might need it might be

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about a meeting, maybe you're going

to think about, could I chair that

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meeting if I haven't done that before?

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Could I be the one who says I'm going to,

to chair and lead this particular meeting.

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Or it could be something

smaller than that.

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It depends on where you are, how long

you've been in that comfort zone.

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'Cause it is about building

it up and taking small steps.

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It's important to recognize that

comfort zones are moving targets.

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When you've moved into Imagine

my boxes, the next box.

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That feels quite challenging at the time.

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Eventually that's going to feel

comfortable, and then you're

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going to move into the next one.

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You're getting that optimal anxiety,

that stretch, but not stress.

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It's working out for yourself.

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What's my plan going to be in terms

of my leadership development and

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how I'm going to keep pushing myself

to, I move outta my comfort zone.

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And remember, the more comfortable

you're getting with comfort zones,

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the easier it's going to be to take

on some of the bigger challenges.

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And that could be comfort zones

in your personal life too.

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Like my salsa dancing, noticing

when you do it personally and

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reminding yourself that you've done

it, that you've taken that step.

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'cause that can help you then

professionally as well, to

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recognize, actually I can do this.

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I've done.

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Other comfort zones that

could be potentially harder.

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Nothing harder than learning

to salsa, I tell you now.

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The action from today, I would say is

to ask yourself, what could I do today?

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Ideally, that would take me outta

my comfort zone in a manageable way.

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Remember you don't want stress,

you want stretch and thinking about

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what support you might need and what

would make you feel great doing it.

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: 00:18:48

'Cause remember, it gives you

that dopamine reward, which makes

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you feel great when you know

you've done something challenging.

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: 00:18:55

' Let me just remind you of the strategists.

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Start small.

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Set yourself clear goals,

visualize success, remind yourself

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of your skills and strengths.

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: 00:19:04

Seek support if you need it, and

be prepared to embrace failure and

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develop a plan for moving through

different comfort zones to give you.

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As much leadership experience as possible

to know that as a leader you are resilient

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: 00:19:21

and that you can take on whatever

challenge might be facing you that you

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won't necessarily have control over.

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I hope you found that useful.

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I would love to know if you

get out of your comfort zone if

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: 00:19:33

you do something today, even if

it's very small, do let me know.

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: 00:19:36

I would love to hear how you got on.

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: 00:19:39

And if you need support with getting

outta your comfort zone, then message me.

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I.

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: 00:19:43

I'm always happy to have a conversation

with you about supporting you

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: 00:19:52

. Thank you so much for listening

to this episode of the Unstuck

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: 00:19:55

and Unstoppable podcast.

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: 00:19:57

I have lots of free resources you

can access on my website, ww.career

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: 00:20:02

tree coaching.co

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: 00:20:04

uk, and I'll also put

links in the show notes.

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: 00:20:08

If you found this episode

helpful, then please subscribe

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: 00:20:11

so you don't miss the next one.

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: 00:20:13

And please do share it with a

friend and leave me a review

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: 00:20:16

and I will personally thank you.

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: 00:20:18

Remember, you're capable of more than

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Welcome to episode 32, how to Get

Outta Your Leadership Comfort Zone.

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: 00:20:28

I'm really glad you're here with me and

I hope you get lots from today's session.

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: 00:20:34

you know, shine brightly.

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: 00:20:36

Lead boldly and unlock the

extraordinary potential within you.

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: 00:20:41

Be unstoppable.