Last night I drove home both energized and tired after an amazing three days at BlogWorld 2011 #BWELA. It was the first time I’d attended and I loved every minute. It’s like ComicCon for a different breed of nerds and geeks – in other words, I felt very much at home there. And yes, I really have attended ComicCon…

Rather than trying to cram all of the experiences and lessons learned into one post, I’m going to break it up into different segments. Since I’ve often talked about “getting out of your comfort zone” Let’s start there. My “about page” says that I’m an “introverted extrovert” and BlogWorld is the perfect example to illustrate what I mean by that. I love people, I love hearing their stories and making new friends. I am NOT comfortable walking up to complete strangers and introducing myself. My comfort zone isn’t even in sight in this situation. Once we get past the introduction though, everyone feels like an old friend.

A couple of days before I left for BlogWorld I signed on to Google+ to see who was posting about it. I found something by Chris Brogan, someone I admire greatly for their authenticity, genuine kindness and sound advice. He posed a very simple question – “Are you going to BlogWorld LA? What are your goals?” I immediately started typing my reply and as I was finishing I suddenly got this overwhelming feeling of dread – Why? Those little whispering voices I thought I had assassinated long ago started chattering – “he has no clue who you are, why are you answering?” I try to ignore the thought. “That’s a lame answer”, they taunted. “Screw you” I thought as I started to hit the enter key – then stopped – then tried again. Finally, my stronger sense of self kicked in and I replied. A bit later I received a notification that he replied back! Take that little voices!

His reply truly became my mantra for the conference “be bold. Say hi. Connect. You’ll find people who love you. : )”  I can’t tell you how many times I repeated this in my head when I was feeling awkward about meeting someone or introducing myself. It did make a difference in getting past being uncomfortable and just connecting. The best part was that as I was on my way to one of the sessions, I spotted Chris who seemed to be hurrying off to something else. I put his advice into action and stopped him long enough to thank him for his reply and let him know that it had become my mantra for the conference. I held on to this mindset throughout the conference and met so many amazing people – some of whom I will be introducing to you in the following days.

Lessons Learned: Advice is useless unless you put it into practice. Ignore the negative mind chatter, it doesn’t serve you. You never know how much your words will touch someone else.

What’s your favorite tip for moving forward when you’re feeling uncomfortable?

What did you do differently yesterday? Did you wake up at the same time, take the same route to work, follow the same old routine? Do you even remember the drive in to work or school?  It’s nice, comfortable and predictable. It allows us to live on autopilot. The downside to that nice cozy world is that we end up getting the same old results.

For years I parked in the same exact spot at work, even getting a little miffed if someone else parked in “MY” unassigned spot. It’s a small thing, but when others started to comment that someone took “MY” spot, it made me take a hard look at what else I was doing by habit. I promised myself that no matter how small, I would do something different each day. Sometimes it was a new way to or from somewhere, finding a new way to do something at work, venturing out to a new place, joining new forums, attending a webinar to learn something new. You know what? Those small things have led me to meet amazing people, make new connections and enhance my skills. I feel alive again.

It’s amazing what one little seemingly insignificant change in your daily routine can lead to. Challenge yourself, make a game of it.  I’ll bet that at the end of a week you be amazed by how awake and alert you feel. Don’t give in to the discomfort, it’s a sign of growth. Come on, park somewhere new today. Try a new food, start a conversation with someone you don’t know. Whatever you do, Wake Up!!

One of the scariest things about joining the challenge was the thought of “putting myself out there”. I am a very private person by nature, yet I would soon be sharing my innermost desires with complete strangers and now here I am blogging to the world about my experience. Why?

To back up for a bit, in general my life is pretty awesome. I’ve been married for fourteen years now to my best friend and biggest supporter. We have two fantastic kids. We live in warm sunny California, and own our own home. I love my job, and have an employer I consider a friend and mentor who is supportive of my quest.

What could have possibly been wrong or have left me feeling so stuck? It all boils down to the name of the challenge—Having It All. I’m 90% of the way there and I fully intend to get it to 100%.

The “All” that I am working towards is my personal contribution to this universe. I know that I am destined for more than what I am doing today. I truly believe that the experiences I’ve had in life have been given to me for a reason and in order for me to feel truly fulfilled, I must find a way to give back using those experiences. Part of that means “putting myself out there” and getting way out of my comfort zone.

John Assaraf interviewed Dr. Joseph Dispenza, author of “Evolve your Brain”. It was a fascinating journey into the human brain and the physical and chemical changes that take place when we change the patterns of our thinking. According to Dr. Dispenza, being uncomfortable as you change your old ways of thinking signifies growth. Well, I’ve definitely grown a lot these last few weeks and now I’m looking forward to the rest of the ride!