I was recently watching a webinar on success and the guy putting it on began to talk about being in your comfort zone and how being outside your comfort zone relates to success.  It immediately reminded me of a story told to me by a very successful Real Estate Broker that I used to know before he passed away. 

“Professor Warren Johnson developed a thermostat in the 1870’s and started a company that became known as Johnson Controls and they are still in business today.  They pioneered the idea of using thermostats to control both he heating and cooling system for large and small buildings alike. 

The development was a process.  At first there was a heat only version and then there was one that was only for cooling.  The idea was that if the environment was too cold the heater would turn on and if it was too hot the cooling would be activated.  This didn’t work too well because the early thermostats couldn’t be calibrated as accurately as our modern ones are so if they set both of them at 70 degrees, it was possible that both the heating and cooling could turn at the same time or they would go back and forth from heating to cooling so much that controlling the environment was very inefficient and expensive.

They then developed a single thermostat that would control both the heating and cooling.  At first, they experienced the same issues that they encountered with two individual thermostats.  Finally, it was decided to have two set points built into the one thermostat.  They made it possible for the heating and cooling to turn on at two different temperatures.  As an example, the thermostat could be set so that if the temperature got below 65 degrees the heater would turn on and if it went above 75 degrees the cooling would turn on. 

They called the area in the middle the “comfort zone.”  This was the temperature range where neither the heating nor the cooling was turned on, the area where nothing happened.”

This is where my friend likened the path to success to the thermostat of old.  He said that if you wanted success, you would have to get out of your comfort zone because when you are in your comfort zone, NOTHING HAPPENS.  It is important to realize just how true this is.  To reach your goals, to become successful, you often have to do things that are new and probably even uncomfortable, maybe even intimidating.  When you are faced with such situations, remember that you must get out of your comfort zone if you want to succeed because when you are in your comfort zone, when you are not turned on, NOTHING HAPPENS!  It becomes obvious that if you want to be successful; if you want to reach your goals and dreams, SOMETHING, has to happen!