Stepping Outside of Your Comfort Zone

Life is all about taking chances. Sometimes the chances are well thought out, and sometimes they are on a whim.

In 2007 I got the opportunity to become the assistant editor for a newspaper stationed in Kaunakakai, Hawaii on the island of Molokai. When I accepted the position, I really didn’t know much about Molokai, or the newspaper — in fact, I didn’t know much about running publications. It didn’t matter, it was an opportunity, and I was taking a chance.

Once I accepted the position, then I started doing my research. I discovered that Molokai, as an island, had fewer residents than my hometown in Winchester, Ky. It was only about 40 miles long (38 miles to be exact) by 10 miles wide. This meant that you could drive all over the island a few times throughout the day.

The size didn’t matter — I was ready and willing to take a chance. I boarded a flight out of Lexington, Ky., landed in Charlotte, N.C., flew to Phoenix, Ariz. and then to Honolulu from there. It was a long, long flight, but I made it. Well, sort of.

In Honolulu I had to meet up with a friend of my editor that owned a plane and an “airstrip” on Molokai. The plane was small and onboard there was the pilot, his friend and myself. We took off from Honolulu, did a quick fly-around of Molokai — I had never been, so the pilot wanted to show me all the attractions from above.

As we came into land, I noticed the runway wasn’t concrete — it was grass. There was a windsock at the end of the runway, but I’m pretty sure it was an actual sock — tube sock to be more accurate.

Regardless, the plane came down, I held my breath and we landed smoothly on this grass runway. It was the beginning to what would be my first experience running a publication. However, if I had sat back and waited for something that was more in my comfort zone, I might still be hanging out on my parent’s couch playing Mario Kart.

The trip taught me to be extremely independent at a young age. It also taught me not to fear the unknown, and how to make friends in faraway places. I guess it also taught me how to run a newspaper, a little. However, without that one chance in my life, there is no way I could be where I am today.

Moving forward in any career can be scary. You aren’t sure of the unknown — what happens if you fail? If you open a new club across town, how do you learn to market to a new demographic, or what do you do if sales lull?

You have to learn to be comfortable with a short loss. Not every day in Hawaii was paradise. Some days I had to work extremely hard and be completely removed from my comfort zone. However, I sucked up my fear and moved forward. As a club owner, sometimes you must do the same for success. In the next couple of weeks, I challenge you to look within your business to find something you have been putting off because you fear it may not work. Find a way, execute and let me know how it felt to overcome your fear and how much you are enjoying the success of growth in your business.