How I am moving out of my comfort zone to focus on learning

Those of you who follow me know I talk a lot about going after your goals and letting go of a fear of failure. It’s so important to understand that trying new things is how you learn. If you discover that what you thought would be your dream wasn’t what you thought, that is still a win. If you never try, you would still be feeling this other thing would be so much better. 

I spent so much of my life avoiding things I wanted because of a fear of failure. I was a perfectionist and only did something I knew I could succeed at. If I ever went into a situation where I wasn’t the best, I felt like a failure. Until I started learning from the most successful people, they all thrive on failure! They see it as an opportunity to grow instead of a reason for shame. I changed my mindset and have been the happiest I have ever been!

I want to take you through my journey for the last few months to show you I am on this path of learning and growing. I had been doing two side businesses, along with my full-time job at the start of 2020. I was a career coach and a podcast host. For five years, I have wanted to leave corporate to figure out how to live life on my own terms. Covid gave me that clarity, and in May of 2020, I leaped. 

My initial goal was to make enough money to pay my bills as a podcast host. To supplement as we grew, I wanted a part-time job. Luckily I got a PT role as a Career Coach within months. Quickly I learned the podcast wasn’t going to be able to sustain my income, at least not in the short term. So, I landed a role as an online course content creator and teacher. This had been another dream of mine, so it was perfect. I also tried increasing my career coaching. 

I learned I absolutely hated course creation. I may make my own course down the line, but working with a school was corporate America on steroids. It was one of the worst experiences, and I will not plan to create a course for a company in the future. In the moment, it was awful, but I am so glad I went through it. I have spent so much time thinking being an adjunct would be the perfect career for me. I couldn’t have been more wrong! 

Now we get to career coaching. I love working PT for my company. I don’t have to sell anyone, and I get to help people land their next role. Trying to do it on my own has shown me a few things. #1 - coaching is rewarding and very draining #2 - I can only handle a few clients. In the end, I realized I wasn’t passionate enough about it to sustain the effort. 

Of course, I went through a ton of feelings about this. Like where am I going to go now?? Luckily, like it always does, fate intervened. I was lead to real estate. At least three times in my life, I almost went for it and got my license, but fear always held me back. Now I am finally ready to give it a go!

Will this end in me learning something else I don’t want to do? Maybe, but each thing leads me to a new place. I also am loving the journey. I would so much rather be working on finding the best fit for me than settling on something I know I don’t like. 

My goal is to help you make positive changes in your life and move out of your comfort zone. To do that, I want to bring you along on my journey! I would love to hear what you are doing to make changes in your life. Comment below or email me at erin.k.moody@gmail.com!