Sasha Laghonh Of Sasha Talks On How to Go Beyond Your Comfort Zone To Grow Both Personally and Professionally
An Interview with Maria Angelova
Remember it’s not personal. Exploring your best self happens outside the comfort zone because you’ll discover new attributes about yourself from discovering new interests you like to to thresholds for taking risks. When there’s greater risk, there’s a greater reward. This includes risking your present life for embracing more happiness in the process. Your growth will ultimately benefit you first before you can better serve others.
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 Sasha Laghonh.
Sasha is the Founder of Sasha Talks, an educational and entertainment platform that integrates self & professional development into nurturing sustainable outcomes. As a speaker and author, she partners alongside global clients to capitalize upon their talent in commercial spaces. She has also authored books focusing on business, self-development and education. Visit sashatalks.com to learn more.
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?
When I began my professional journey, exploring entrepreneurship wasn’t on the horizon until I allowed life to direct me to my higher purpose. In hindsight, my business training traces back to my teenage years when I was working for private parties and third party organizations for pocket money. I’ve contributed my professional services to childcare and education, sports management, government, technology and other industries as opportunities unfolded in my path. Each of these endeavors introduced me to acquiring new skills and learning how to apply them optimally in my respective career path. Over time I’ve integrated them into the evolving verticals on the Sasha Talks platform.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Where focus goes, energy flows.” — Tony Robbins
The quote resonates with me as a friendly reminder that we need to pay attention to what we feed our overall presence. From observation too many people are either living in the past or future yet not enough are present in the moment. Our lives unfold in the present. Manifestation takes place in the present. Focus on creating solutions rather than permitting challenges to compromise one’s clarity and performance in life. Thoughts are like balloons, what you think about and focus on will ultimately take a life of its own, for better or worse. Make sure your energy is focused on the right things.
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?
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. The book stresses becoming comfortable with being different. I’ve been the odd ball for most of my life that it’s not a foreign concept to me. Not Giving a F*ck isn’t a bad thing. It means you know what your priorities are without being apologetic for who you are. The world will have opinions of you whether you engage with it or not. As long as you’re not harming yourself and/or others, then people need to calm down by paying attention to their own lane.
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?
For me it means to situate myself outside of any familiar environments that nurture my mind, body and emotions. Outside the comfort zone attracts people and opportunities that we’re likely to overlook when we desire a predictable lifestyle. When entertaining these unknown foreign variables, we’re also facing new risks that produce different reactions within us. Because “getting outside of your comfort zone” doesn’t guarantee success and safety, most people are hesitant to dive head first when faced with new changes in their life path.
Can you help articulate a few reasons why it is important to get out of your comfort zone?
Growth in terms of self and professional development happens outside of our safety zones. The safety zones are metaphorical and literal environments that we’ve created that feed our confidence and self-esteem. Remaining in those zones all the time can enable complacency because when things are running smoothly, there’s no need to strive higher in life. Remaining in such comfortable zones for too long can compromise our life outlook, performance management, the quality of our relationships and soon we find ourselves settling for a mediocre lifestyle.
In some cases, people ‘let go’ of themselves because they’re not challenging their mind, body and overall self to become better through taking healthy risks by diversifying their interests through trying new things in life. It reminds me of an engraved quote my doctor would keep on his desk, “don’t knock it, until you’ve tried it”. We need to explore life to enhance the quality of living from meeting new people, traveling to new places, investing in new hobbies; etc. For those who think they’re living their best life, there’s still a lot of life to explore to make it even better.
Is it possible to grow without leaving your comfort zone? Can you explain what you mean?
It’s possible in the short run. While dwelling among the comfort zone, individuals can audit their development and life activities by refining what already exists in their life. When leaving the comfort zone, no one is expected to reinvent the wheel. People are simply encouraged to try other wheels that exist outside of the little world they’ve created.
Also there’s no reason needed to justify exploring life outside the comfort zone. Nothing good or bad has to happen to guide an individual to explore new endeavors outside their familiar set-up. Unfortunately in life, most people venture outside the comfort zone when they’re subjected to changes outside of their control, or they’re facing limited options to proceed forward in their path.
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?
Oh my, I view most of my life being lived outside of my comfort zone! As someone who works in the people business, I initially challenged myself to work a wide variety of roles that would introduce me to people through the phones and live face to face engagement. While initially working in sales and account management, I was expected to work with my laterals as well external clients whom we served within our territories. When contributing to other business niches, it granted me access to work with most members of the organization regardless of their title and tier within those respective environments. It provided an opportunity to know how to execute the work by partnering with members at all levels of the organization by becoming well versed with the communications and risk variables within the organization.
Since most of my engagements entail confidentiality, it granted me enough experience to exercise good judgment when nurturing relationships within and outside these commercial entities. While there is no such thing as perfect judgment, such judgment skills can be refined through experiencing life when opportunity presents itself.
While existing outside of the comfort zone isn’t foreign to me. I often remind my audiences that I’m a work in progress.
Here is the central question of our discussion. What are your “five ways to push past your comfort zone, to grow both personally and professionally”?
1. Remember it’s not personal. Exploring your best self happens outside the comfort zone because you’ll discover new attributes about yourself from discovering new interests you like to to thresholds for taking risks. When there’s greater risk, there’s a greater reward. This includes risking your present life for embracing more happiness in the process. Your growth will ultimately benefit you first before you can better serve others.
2. Try things that you fear. When we face our fears, it’s easier to overcome day to day challenges because with time they appear very minor in comparison to new dilemmas that unfold in our path. Fear is a mental obstacle that needs to be addressed because it can paralyze people from living their best life. Some fear can be good when it deters people from engaging in deviant behaviors. Otherwise most fears are mental seeds that need to be eradicated in order for people to prosper mentally, emotionally and physically in life.
3. You are enough. Trying new things can be exciting when we’re not putting pressure on ourselves to be perfect. Such latter pressure takes the fun out of learning and living because people ignore the bigger picture — we’re meant to thrive by welcoming joy into our lives. Measured performance has a time and place. Blocking all unknown energies also blocks opportunities for people to achieve more resources, promotion, harmony and balance in life, etc. We can’t exceptionally excel in one part of life yet by default expect those successes to spill over other cups in our life. We need to work on it even if it means stepping outside of our comfort zone.
4. Trust life. Often people talk themselves out of bringing their goals to fruition because they lack belief in themselves. They can’t trust life around them because they can’t trust themselves. In order for life to meet us halfway, we need to work through our doubts prior to acting upon an execution plan to achieve our goals. You’re expected to make the first move whether you like it or not. What you think and do will get reflected back by life. Start by learning to trust yourself first. This comes with practice by taking ownership of day to day decision making.
5. The reward will come. It’s important to embark upon any positive changes, including thriving outside the comfort zone, for your sake. Make sure you’re venturing outside the zone for the right reasons to avoid resentment of sorts. These healthy changes are meant to develop you into a more competent personality and character. As with any life decisions, the investment will yield rewards when you apply yourself consistently over time. We don’t get to control the ‘when’ or the ‘how’ all the time but the rewards will follow your commitment if you make it a priority. Going outside the comfort zone is not a race against time so permit yourself to pace your progress. Remember, it’s meant to be fun in the process no matter how scary it is at first. If you give an idea a fair chance and it doesn’t work, then it’s okay to try other ideas. Growth is the goal, not perfection.
From your experience or perspective, what are some of the common barriers that keep someone from pushing out of their comfort zone?
People are obsessed with seeking guarantees that their goals will pan out ‘for sure’. I remind them there are two things in life that are guaranteed — the day we’re born and the day our time will come to transition from earth. Everything in between isn’t guaranteed. We’re responsible for designing our life through free-will to yield results that we can live with over time.
An acquaintance I recently met during a business trip summed it up best — “life is a series of decisions”. Every decision is followed by a series of other decisions through the consequences that unfold. Pay attention to the micro-decisions that you make everyday because they add up over time.
People need to release the obsession with having everything perfect first before choosing to live. Live life first then refine what needs attention in your path, or else you’ll be waiting forever. Most of social media is presented as an alternative reality where people are trying to sell the image of perfect relationships, marriages, bodies, reputations and the list goes on. Most of those latter ‘stories’ don’t exist. Focus on reality, do your best and you’ll be fine.
No one is putting pressure on yourself but you. Take ownership of what you want by making it happen. Get behind your decision instead of seeking validation from strangers to ‘ok’ your goals. You need to own your decisions, not the world. When you start taking care of yourself, you’ll see your path leading you to better pastures.
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?
Sure, try it as long as common sense (good sense) accompanies the activity. As someone who doesn’t negotiate when it comes to safety, I urge people to research what they want to pursue prior to taking action. Mindfulness needs to be present when engaging in any self development activities. Growth can’t occur with the mind absent. The idea of trying new things is to introduce the person to new modes of living through exploration. Compromising one’s well-being is not encouraged for the sake of honoring an expectation. Sensibility and good sense must be present to yield a fair experience at a minimum.
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?
I think it would be interesting to choose one virtue we appreciate in society by embodying that for an entire month.
If people enjoy a sense of community, one can make an effort connecting with people through their local social and good-will efforts.
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!
Kathie Lee Gifford. I admire the work that she’s doing internationally through honoring her personal and social interests on global platforms. Since she’s also proud of her faith and spirituality, I believe there is plenty of conversation waiting to unfold when we cross paths.
How can our readers follow you online?
Readers are welcome to visit Sashatalks.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.
Sasha Laghonh Of Sasha Talks 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.