n. Comfort Zone: Artificially created mental boundary in which an individual derives a sense of security.

When it comes to achieving your goals and reaching new levels of success, the ability to get outside of your comfort zone is essential. Moving from an awareness of this fact to doing something about it, is often 90% of the battle. Our comfort zone is represented by our daily habits, routines, and general assumptions we make about our lives. These are extremely powerful, and act like a strong magnetic force that holds us in place. Our mind gets programmed to think in similar ways day after day. We cling to the past instead of looking to the future. Before we know it, we aren't questioning if what we are doing today is what we want to be doing, or if we are doing it simply because it is what we did yesterday. This force to stay as we are and avoid change can be so compelling that it often takes someone or something very persuasive to move us outside of our comfort zone.

If it is so comfortable to stay in your comfort zone, why do leaders want and need to change? Leaders that avoid change and retreat to previous patterns restrict others from making changes.