President's Tip of the Week

Stretch Your Comfort Zone
By VPE, Emi Bauer (7/15/08)

I appreciated something in particular that PJ said in her evaluation of my speech last week – that I had described “an emotional journey” and a journey of growth, facilitated by experiences I’d had in our Gilbert Toastmasters Club. An astute observation, I thought. Allow me to expand a little on this idea of an emotional or growth journey.

As I was writing that speech, I began to realize more fully exactly how much of a process – a “journey,” if you will – the whole experience really has been. It started out with simply getting out of the house, then progressed to setting goals (whether by myself or by others on my behalf), then to meeting goals, then to setting new goals or challenges, then allowing myself to be nudged… I’m sure you can see the progression there yourself.

This sounds a bit like the stretching exercises we often do at the gym. We stretch a little one month, stretch a little father the next month… then after a while we’re able to do things our bodies wouldn’t previously allow us.

Toastmasters offers us so many different ways to stretch ourselves, particularly with regard to our comfort zones. And the more we stretch our comfort zones, the farther our comfort zones allow us to reach.

As I reflect on my Toastmasters journey, I can see how my comfort zone had been stretched little by little over the years. The result is that I can now do things I never imagined myself doing when I first began my journey.

As you take your own journey through life or through Toastmasters (hopefully both), don’t forget to take the time to stretch your comfort zone. I think you’ll find the journey becomes so much more enriching when you have a more flexible comfort zone!