Often I interview people who are regularly stepping out of their comfort zone. Lynne fits firmly in that category. Our chat covered many fabulous subjects – including her starting helicopter lessons! 

Lynne started by telling me about one of the first time she recalls doing something outside of her area of expertise – facilitating a workshop for the Australian Junior Chamber. “I was getting more and more into speaking and then someone said, ‘Oh, would you facilitate a workshop we’ve got coming up’ and I said yes, thinking it’s probably just like emceeing, right. Once I started looking at what is facilitation I realised ‘Oh, my God, what have I got myself into’ and many times I wanted to ring up this guy and say ‘You know what, I’m not doing it. This is so not my area of expertise. I don’t know what I’m doing. This is not for me.’ But I had this incredible pride as well. I thought how can you bail out on something? It’s like someone’s seen potential in you or is giving you an opportunity and here you are saying no.” Lynne went ahead. And nailed it. 

Facilitation is now very much within Lynne’s comfort zone these days, so she seeks out other opportunities. Like a helicopter flying lesson! “I’ve been a massive plane aviation geek for a number of years, and a few weeks ago, I had my first lesson in a helicopter. I love a helicopter ride, but I’m usually more interested in sitting in the front seat watching what’s happening rather than looking at the scenery. So my 2020 step out of my comfort zone (or fly out of my comfort zone) will be getting a helicopter licence.” 

Lynne is motivated to spend so much time out of her comfort zone because “we don’t usually feel achievement without challenge”. As Lynne described her first lesson her face lit up with joy. “Even in that first lesson, I learned so much about what makes the helicopter go up and forward and sideways and I was doing all that very quickly. There was an incredible learning curve and incredible achievement in just the first 90 minutes!” 

Lynne and I chatted about other times she has recently stepped out of her comfort zone – such as talking to CPAs in 6 different Australian cities. Then we talked about how she feels leading up to something new “Usually a couple of days before I will be thinking about it a lot while I’m doing other things. And I tend to imagine, do some sort of mental rehearsal. [On the day] I feel pretty good in the morning and then about half an hour to an hour before I get really nervous. That only lasts for a little while and I take some deep breaths and as it’s getting closer and closer to the time I really love that feeling of the anticipation. Instead of nervousness, it’s anticipation. That’s what I would call it.” 

I asked Lynne about what she would tell someone about the benefits of stepping out of their comfort zone if they were reluctant to do so “It gives you a different perspective and a different experience. If you imagine you go to a restaurant or cafe and you order the same thing all the time, because that’s what you like getting from there. The next time you go, your job is to order something different. And that’s stepping out of your comfort zone right there. It’s looking at the menu and saying I’m going to try something else. And from that moment on, everything’s different. The anticipation, the lead up, the eating the meal, and afterwards, that’s all new. The benefits start immediately from the fact that you made that decision to try something different. I imagine that our brain changes, the neuro plasticity in our mind changes, and the way we see the world starts to change. And we become ready for many, many better things that are ahead and shit things that are ahead too.” 

We also talked about how you know where your comfort zone ends if you never test it or push it. It is something that changes with our experiences. Even within the one flying lesson: “When the training pilot says ‘you have the controls’. I have to respond. ‘I have the controls’. So now I’m responsible? I’m flying it, that is [completely] out of my comfort zone. And I’m experiencing it. I’m going ‘ohhh shit this is scary’. But I did it. And then I gave the controls back to him. And when we did another manoeuvre and he said, ‘okay, you have the controls.’ And this time I thought ‘I’ve done this. I’ve done this before’.” 

Finally, we talked about the areas of people’s lives they are willing to take risk in, I think we agreed logic does not apply! “What about blogging? How many people are saying ‘I want to blog, I want to blog, I’ve written blogs’, and they don’t press publish. But they will go and ride in the backseat of a taxi in South America or they’ll put themselves in high risk situations, with regards to personal safety, but they won’t do something that might advance their career and make them more confident in the long run.” 

And I will leave you with that final thought to ponder – are you avoid risk in the wrong places? 

About Lynne:

“Workplaces of today need to be increasingly agile, responsive and adaptive. People want to be part of a smart team doing great, meaningful, awesome work!” – Lynne Cazaly

I’m obsessed with helping leaders lead their teams through transformation and change.

This is about business agility, about helping people apply their ideas and adapting to what happens when those ideas are put to practice. Leaders become more capable, boost engagement with their staff and make decisions quicker.