Be a SHARK of your COMFORT ZONE

Many a times when I do not have anything to do, I happen to ask one question to myself, 'while most of the people I know, keep themselves busy doing some or the other activity, why can't I?' The reply is obvious that people go stretching beyond their limits of thinking to keep themselves busy. Many persons are master in this. Even after knowing this, I still can't do that.

While doing my MBA, each of our faculty used to tell us that how it's important for one to come out of closet and try doing things that he/she would not have done otherwise. This according to them and to many, will lead you to be ahead of the current stream and become one of those that are ahead. I agreed fully with them, but still didn't bother to act on the thought.

Now here's the present day and I'm still sitting idle. For some strange reason, I started remembering this whole 'comfort zone' theory. After thinking a while on this, I said why a person can't be different by being in his own comfort zone.

I had seen a lot of programs on TV about sharks and their superior skills. They say, it's very difficult to survive a shark attack. Somehow, I started relating sharks to the thought of comfort zone. Here's how.

As everyone of us know that the sharks cannot survive out of the waters. So I call it their comfort zone. But it's not that they are the ultimate predators just like that. It's their skill set that creates all the difference. You can survive and succeed by being in your comfort zone but for that, you must DEVELOP a certain skill set.

Let me push the thought by relating it to some of the sharks attributes.

Sharks must keep swimming in order to not to sink in the ocean. Likewise, one must keep on TRYING to survive or simply to be present in the league. It's always better to try and fail than being aloof without trying.

Sharks have a very unique ability and that is 'replacing teeth'. A shark's teeth keep on replacing. In this fast paced world which has no dearth of quantity, quality and variety of talents, one must keep on acquiring new skill sets to be in the race. Gaining knowledge is not only about learning new things, it is also about being updated about the developments in one's field of interest. We are in a time where there are sophisticated means of discovery available. The whole process of discovery is constant and endless. So dig in and enjoy the learning. There's no end and no logic as to what to learn and to what extent to learn. That's why we see a scholar in economics is equally passionate about and interested in music. It's just like having different set of teeth of shark. Few of them are razor sharp and pointed while other are grinding teeth. So each passing moment, we must keep on indulging in things that may be too diverse from each other.

Sharks have amazing sensing skills. Any solid object create waves of pressure as it glides through water. Shark senses this with the intensity of a physical touch. They can smell a drop of blood from a distance of a quarter of the mile. So, be alert in sensing the opportunities. Opportunities are generally nothing but the possibilities that can be fruitful if one decides to work towards it. There are always a number of opportunities that we choose to let go, because of some or the other reason. Getting hooked on to a right thing is an outcome of one's logical ability to translate that into a worthwhile result. Worthwhile of the efforts and resources that he's keen to put into it. Being first in grabbing an idea is not important at all. It's how you choose to work on it that matters a lot. Otherwise, Martin Cooper would have been more popular than Nokia, Apple and Sony.

Sharks glide through the water with great ease. If it fails to capitalize on one hunting opportunity, it doesn't simply stops. It continues hunting again. And the process goes on all its life. So, whatever amount of the hurdles, failures, losses one may face, he must learn to 'move on'. For the simple fact that it's only if you move on, you'll come across another opportunity.
If you really don't want to come out of your closet, make sure that you become a SHARK of your COMFORT ZONE. Being successful after failures will still keep you in the crowd of successful people. It’s being different will make you stand apart.

Keep on Hunting!