Are you among the very small group of people that live up to their full potential? I think we are capable of much more than we are currently demonstrating and that at some level we all know what we are really capable of. The challenge is that all to often we stay with what's comfortable and we tend to live our lives in the ?luke warm? water of mediocrity.

To take your life, your business, your health or any other part of your life to the next level requires of you to step outside of what feels comfortable and what you are accustomed to. It's simple. If you keep doing what you've always done then your results will be what you've always gotten. With comfort zones we are, quite literally, imprisoned by what we believe we are or aren't and what we believe we can or can't do.

When baby elephants are trained their back leg gets tied with a rope to a wooden peg. This confines the elephant to an area that is determined by the length of the rope. At first the baby elephant will try and free himself, but the rope proofs to be too strong for him and after a while he will give up trying. Even when the elephant grows up to a massive male that can weigh as much as 6 tones, he will remain confined to the area determined by the length of rope. Because he is ?used? to it and he believes that he cannot go outside that constraints of his comfort zone, he will remain imprisoned by something that can not logically tie him down anymore. He will stay in his comfort zone even if it was defined when he was only a little baby and even if he can easily break free from it now.

Human beings are very much the same, although it is a lot less obvious. We all have ?limitations? that we've been conditioned to believe and now that we are capable of breaking free from them, we don't even attempt it. In fact, the possibility does not even cross our minds. When you believe something you create a sort of mental ?blindness? to other possibilities because your experiences are filtered through your beliefs. The result is that you tend to stay with what you are comfortable with which is what you are certain about.

Limitations only exist in our minds. It is only what we think we can or cannot do. Surely if someone else can do it, it is at least possible for me? Limitations are inside of us and not ?stuff from the outside world that gets imposed on us - although events and circumstances often make us believe that. Your beliefs about what you can or cannot do, what you are or aren't, are only. Beliefs are very powerful thoughts because it's thoughts that we have a sense of certainty about and what we feel certain about is what we tend to act upon. Whether you believe you can or whether you believe you can't, either way you are right.

You need to snap out of what you've been lead to believe about yourself and your own limitations. The only thing that prevents you from achieving anything is your belief about it and your belief is the ?rope? that confines you to your comfort zone. Your beliefs are the leash that confines your future to your past. Our beliefs are almost always ?installed? unconsciously. From early childhood and throughout life we are told what we are and what we are not. We ?learn? what we can or cannot do until we accept these ideas as truth and learn to live with the ?rope? around our lives.

If you think you are ?just this kind of person? or that you are shy or nervous or stupid or whatever limitation you've been lead to believe ? just drop it! You are not your behavior and you are not your past. Start to question all the assumptions you have. Realize that everything that you think is impossible for you, is only a belief that it is impossible. If you are facing any challenges in any area of your life, then it is likely that you are stuck in a comfort zone. Comfort zones are what prevents you from growing, expanding and becoming more. Some people are so conditioned in their beliefs that they would even define themselves by their limitations. Apart from that, these ?limitations? are often used as the convenient excuse for why their lives aren't working on the level that they ultimately desire.

You must break out of this mould because it is what prevents you from taking the actions that will raise you from where you are to where you ultimately want to be. It's easy to talk about growth, improvement and advancement, but what it really comes down to is action. Only when you actually do it can you break out of the comfort zone. It's amazing how incredibly easy it really is when you just do it and act on what you always thought was difficult or even impossible. The challenge is that it is your old beliefs tend to keep you from taking these simple actions that can free you.

Starts by changing your beliefs about what you can or cannot do and who you think you are. Realize that you get to choose these things - they are not a given. Then act on these new ideas about yourself and you will see that once you do a whole new world will open up in front of you ? one that is even greater than you could ever have imagined.