You’ve heard it before, probably a thousand times. Life starts when you leave your comfort zone. Get outside of your comfort zone. Make the leap. In theory these sound like great mantras to live by. But turning theory to praxis can be hard to grasp.

Making choices that bring you outside of your comfort zone don’t have to happen in large scale gestures like quitting your job to pursue a passion or going cold turkey on your favorite food indulgences. The goal doesn’t need to be making monumental shifts and being uncomfortable all the time. Moving outside your comfort zone doesn’t have to mean forcing yourself to work constantly and refuse relaxation. That only causes a continuous stress cycle that will eventually become unsustainable.

Recalibrate the goal towards finding self awareness in isolated moments when you are losing focus. Maybe that means pushing yourself for one more minute when you are feeling fatigued during a workout or pausing before picking up your phone to scroll in a moment of boredom. It can mean bringing awareness to both the habit and the trigger, even for a moment. Over time you’ll increase your tolerance for discomfort and a minute will turn into an hour, and a small habit will turn into a bigger one. And, it doesn’t have to be everything all at once. Isolate focus, discipline, and self talk from each other and work on one thing at a time. You’ll find that each small push will create ripples in other areas.

If you focus on taking small bites you’ll start to push your limits. If you do it consistently, you’ll find sustained growth. You don’t have to leap off a cliff or go into the wild to find your peace or challenge your limits. You can find it by showing up for yourself in small ways every day.