Dre Baldwin Of Work On Your Game On How to Go Beyond Your Comfort Zone To Grow Both Personally and Professionally
An Interview With Maria Angelova
Establish where your comfort zone is, and why you need to get out of it. This is the first step the many people never take, and simply thinking about where they are and where they want to go and why it matters to go to a different place.
It feels most comfortable to stick with what we are familiar with. But anyone who has achieved great success will tell you that true growth comes from pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. What are some ways that influential people have pushed themselves out of their comfort zone to grow both personally and professionally? As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dre Baldwin.
Dre Baldwin is CEO and Founder of Work On Your Game Inc. He has given 4 TEDxTalks and has authored 35 books.
Dre’s content has been consumed over 103 million times. His daily Work On Your Game MasterClasshas over 2,700 episodes and over 7 million listeners.
Dre had a 9-year professional basketball career, playing in 8 countries. Dre’s framework is the “roadmap in reverse” for professional mindset, strategy, systems and execution.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we start, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
Sure, and I’m excited to be here!
I come from the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and now reside in Miami Florida. I always played sports growing up, and eventually settled on basketball around the age of 14 — which is pretty late for an athlete who’s looking to go somewhere in the sport, such as playing in college or even the pros. But that was a situation, and I only played one year of high school basketball. Then walked to play division three college basketball, which is the third tier of college sports, not available, that usually produces professional level players.
I was able to hustle my way into pro sports, despite this background, and from there I pretty much started everything that we’re going to talk about in this conversation.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Be smooth, but don’t coast.”
I got that lesson from a random guy at an LA fitness gym back in 2005. I don’t even know this guy; I had never seen him before and have not seen him since. But he gave me that advice after watching me play and complementing my game, while at the same time offering MIA critiques that I sometimes would coast through the games.
And full disclosure, I keep a file of hundreds of quotes that are reminders for me and conditioners for my mindset; so it’s really hard for me to pick just one quote. But that happens to be the one that I thought of when you asked.
Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
That would be my favorite book of all time: The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene.
I found that book while browsing a bookstore in the late 90s or early 2000s. I read the back cover, listed all of the 48 laws, was coincided with the chapters, and I was immediately intrigued, and knew it was a book that I needed to read. Every human wants to have power, and I had never seen a book written or designed in this way. They talked about it so openly and so directly. To this day, I have read the book probably 50 times, and it has directed me in many ways towards developing my own power in life.
Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. Let’s start with a basic definition so that all of us are on the same page. What does “getting outside of your comfort zone” mean?
It means doing things that are outside of your normal room of behavior, which is the only place where it is possible you can get an outcome that is outside of your normal realm of outcomes, outside of pure and blind look. This is where every human needs to go if they are serious about making a serious and significant and lasting change in life.
Can you help articulate a few reasons why it is important to get out of your comfort zone?
The number one reason it is important — and the only reason it would ever be important for anyone — is if you are serious about getting a different outcome in your life than the outcomes you have been getting up to this point.
The truth of the matter is, most people are OK with getting the same outcomes for the rest of their lives, so not everyone needs to get out of their comfort zone. Only the people who are serious about getting a different outcome, and they’re serious about getting a different outcome now.
Is it possible to grow without leaving your comfort zone? Can you explain what you mean?
Technically, it is — because if you are consistent at doing things that will lead to a certain outcome and you stick to the process, you can grow and get better while continually doing the same things over and over and over again. This is why persistence, consistency, and discipline matter. They don’t necessarily require you getting out of your comfort zone.
But, on the other hand, it could be uncomfortable to stay persistent at a thing. It really depends on your mental make up and how you feel about the thing that is being discussed.
On the other hand, when it comes to wholesale change in life, most of the time, you will need to get out of your comfort zone and do something that you are not used to doing — or stop doing something that you are used to doing.
Can you share some anecdotes from your personal experience? Can you share a story about a time when you stepped out of your comfort zone and how it helped you grow? How does it feel to take those first difficult steps?
I remember when I first started my business, after my career as a professional athlete, and my first idea was to become a professional speaker. The thing is, I did not have a bunch of people offer me opportunities to do speaking gigs, so I had to get on the phone and literally cold call to try to get myself booked on a stage, even if I was offering to speak for free.
This was not easy on several levels.
For one, nobody knew who I was, so it was an uphill battle, trying to sell myself.
Number two, I didn’t know exactly how to navigate these conversations and sell myself, because I didn’t have much experience in doing so.
Number three, I was calling people who were not expecting to hear from me, interrupting them at work, and I had to figure out a way to get them interested and hooked on talking to me more. None of this was comfortable, but I did it.
For me, it felt great to take these first few steps, because I knew what it would lead to once I was able to create opportunities for myself. I knew there would be a matter of some trial and error, learning what worked, and what didn’t work, and I was willing to do that work.
What are your “five ways to push past your comfort zone, to grow both personally and professionally”?
Number one, establish where your comfort zone is, and why you need to get out of it. This is the first step the many people never take, and simply thinking about where they are and where they want to go and why it matters to go to a different place.
Number two, is to develop the courage that you will need to actually get out of your comfort zone. The biggest challenge people have with this is that they go looking for confidence when they get to this point — standing at the edge of the comfort zone, ready to cross the threshold — but don’t find any confidence, and thus give themselves the excuse to turn back and stay where they are. The truth is, however, that, in order to step out of your comfort zone, you need courage — not confidence. Courage requires you to do something that you are not used to doing, while confidence is about doing things that you know you can do. There is a big difference.
Number three enlist any help that you can get to help you with this courage, because it is not easy to do something that you have never done before; usually, I find the older person, the harder it is to break through the mold of what they are used to and get them to do something new. So, if you can have a coach, or a mastermind group, or an accountability partner, or something similar to help usher you through This. Of courageousness and newness, it will probably help you to get it done. This is why human beings are social creatures.
Number four, get yourself a quick win in the new space that you were stepping into. This is why it is important to have other people around you, because they probably will know what you need to have happen or see, in order to feel as if your courage was worth it, because you get an immediate payoff for taking that step outside of your comfort zone. As a coach myself, one of the things I always want to do with a new client is get them a quick victory so that they can Validate in their own minds the decision that they made to start working with me.
Number five, make it a habit to get out of your comfort zone on a consistent basis! This way, getting out of your comfort zone is not some once every five years thing; but something that you do all the time. The more often you do anything, the more normal and commonplace it becomes in your own mind, and thus it is less stressful to do it.
From your experience or perspective, what are some of the common barriers that keep someone from pushing out of their comfort zone?
As we talked about previously, it’s using an inaccurate form of looking for confidence, and what you actually need is courage.
When you are doing something that you have done before, you can call on your confidence — your belief in your ability to do a thing. That is based on your past experience.
When you’re doing something brand new, you have no confidence, because you have never done the thing before! So, what you need is courage, which will move you to do something that you know is not normal for you and that you may be a bit nervous about doing.
This is the number one mistake people make when it comes to getting out of their comfort zone. They are simply looking for the wrong tool.
There is a well-known quote attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt that says, “Do something that scares you every day”. What exactly does this mean to you? Is there inherent value in doing something that pushes you out of your comfort zone, even if it does not relate to personal or professional growth? For example, if one is uncomfortable about walking alone at night should they purposely push themselves to do it often for the sake of going beyond their comfort zone? Can you please explain what you mean?
Exactly what we said in the previous question. The more often you push yourself out of your comfort zone, the more normal it becomes to get out of your comfort zone — thus it doesn’t bother you to be pushed out of your comfort zone! It is a self fulfilling prophecy!
There is a huge value in doing something that pushes you out of your comfort zone, not only tangibly, but also intangibly, because as you grow as a person, you build confidence. Now that you have done the thing, you get to experience something new, and, since you probably stepped out of your comfort zone for something that you knew you needed to do, you probably got an outcome that you actually wanted.
And yes — people should do things that put their monitor on just for the sake of doing so, because it builds courage, it builds confidence, and it gives you the strength to know that you can deal with uncertainty without falling apart.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Understanding that they need courage, and not confidence when they’re doing something brand new! If people logically understood this, I think a lot more people would try new things in life than we currently have trying.
Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!
Elon Musk. He’s probably looking for some new project and he can get behind and push that would help change the world, and Work On Your Game is one of those projects that he might want to be involved in.
How can our readers follow you online?
Anyone can follow me on Instagram, at @DreBaldwin. (Http://instagram.com/drebaldwin)
Also, any reader can get a free copy of my book, The Third Day: The Decision That Separates The Pros From The Amateurs, here: http://ThirdDayBook.com
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
About The Interviewer: Maria Angelova, MBA is a disruptor, author, motivational speaker, body-mind expert, Pilates teacher and founder and CEO of Rebellious Intl. As a disruptor, Maria is on a mission to change the face of the wellness industry by shifting the self-care mindset for consumers and providers alike. As a mind-body coach, Maria’s superpower is alignment which helps clients create a strong body and a calm mind so they can live a life of freedom, happiness and fulfillment. Prior to founding Rebellious Intl, Maria was a Finance Director and a professional with 17+ years of progressive corporate experience in the Telecommunications, Finance, and Insurance industries. Born in Bulgaria, Maria moved to the United States in 1992. She graduated summa cum laude from both Georgia State University (MBA, Finance) and the University of Georgia (BBA, Finance). Maria’s favorite job is being a mom. Maria enjoys learning, coaching, creating authentic connections, working out, Latin dancing, traveling, and spending time with her tribe. To contact Maria, email her at angelova@rebellious-intl.com. To schedule a free consultation, click here.
Dre Baldwin Of Work On Your Game On How to Go Beyond Your Comfort Zone To Grow Both Personally and… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.