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By Root 632 0

somewhere, I felt a small sense of relief and accomplishment while walking off the plane. I saw this as an opportunity to fuck around with my brain a bit. The direct order “GET OVER FLYING” has zero emotional connection to my brain. The answer it spits back was usually, “No! It sucks. And it’s bumpy! I hate it!” Only when I made my goal meaningful did I start to get results. Whenever we’d hit shitty turbulence (which is actually totally safe, BTW), I began to say something along the lines of “Every second you get through this makes you stronger.” I was tired of being afraid of everything and decided that I wanted to be a stronger person, and this made my life a septillion times better. This was my emotional connection. It got to the point where I almost kind of wanted the turbulence so my brain could flood itself with reward chemical.

EXPAND YOUR COMFORT ZONES

My flying fear had decided not to confine itself to the aircraft. For many days leading up to a flight I would feel stressed. I couldn’t sleep; I just kept feeling the anxiety over and over. If I had written the program in BASIC, it would have looked like this:

10 STRESS ABOUT FLYING

20 GOTO 10

30 RUN

I decided that my ultimate goal with flying was the experience of carefree travel. I wouldn’t feel the crescendo of pants shitting leading up to and including (not literally, of course) the flight itself. Instead, I would be comfortable, and almost a little—GASP—excited to fly. Rather than being subservient to my brain, I took little bits of control at a time. If I started the freak-out seven days before traveling normally, I would instead devote the seventh day to relaxing, breathing slowly, imagining myself comfortably flying. Then I’d allow myself the old pattern starting on the sixth day. Taking little bits of control in this manner was not only easier than just getting over flying all at once, but it started to lay an emotional foundation of strength with the new pattern I was trying to establish. No, this is not a quick fix. No, it’s not revolutionary. But it worked. Today I’m relaxed to the point that I get sleepy the second I step onto a plane.

Expanding your comfort zones doesn’t have to just mean facing fear. Your career should be one big comfort-zone-expanding sphere. Actually, your LIFE should be one big comfort-zone-expanding sphere, if you want it to be interesting and fulfilling. Tiny example here ∙∙ I am a terrible guitar player. I can play some chords, but I’m not great. Earlier in the year I decided I wanted to do a song for a show at the San Francisco Sketchfest (sfsketchfest.com) = BEST comedy festival in the United States. The problem is, playing in front of people is entirely different from playing in your home. It’s a whole separate learning curve. At first I shot down the idea in my head. “I could NEVER do that! I’ll suck!” But as soon as I said that, I got all up in my own business and said, “All right, Assy, now you HAVE to do it.” So I started doing the bit at small shows around L.A. And guess what? I sucked! But also guess what? IT WAS GREAT. Liberating. I was terrified to do it and I did it anyway. It was awful, but it was by no means a failure. The worst thing that happened was that I messed up a couple of times, and it turns out that’s not so bad. And when I saw that I could get through it, I felt energized by the experience. I got better, more comfortable, until SF Sketchfest finally arrived, and I played that goddamn song in front of four hundred people. Body armor. It’s hard to be down on yourself when you spit in anxiety’s douchey face.

CHARACTERCIZE

What are some things you’re afraid of doing?

How could you expand your comfort zones?

GETTING UNCOMFORTABLE: YOUR PERSONAL R&D

You are basically an intricate company, so let’s say if you devote 90 percent of your energy to maintaining current projects, seeking out new business, and marketing your product, the remaining 10 percent should go to research and development. This will keep you relevant and ensure your steady evolution as an entity. Things are