Become Comfortable With Feeling Uncomfortable

So those of you who have trudged along with the hordes of people to see the newest sensation Bruno might be wondering why on earth Sacha Baron Cohen is still alive, let alone incredibly successful. Why do we enjoy watching this man do things that even in our worst nightmares we would never ever do?!

Well actually, believe it or not, Sacha has displayed a drastic example of something that we as a society love- risk takers! We all admire the entrepreneurs, the sky divers, the rock climbers, the men and women who take chances! And the reason is simple: People who take chances and are not afraid are the ones who are incredibly successful within our society: at both dating and business!

What we all love about Borat and Bruno is that because he lacks any inhibition (and when I say any I mean any) to do the things he does we see him as a tremendous risk taker and therefore we psychologically, unconsciously admire him! We admire his confidence, his quick wit and the fact that he is seemingly comfortable and even enjoying the situations he puts himself into.

So Sacha Beren Cohen has given us a great method for developing confidence- leave your comfort zone! The reason why people don’t succeed is because they find a situation they are comfortable with and they refuse to leave. But we here at Styles of the Mind refuse to allow that to continue! You deserve to be as successful as Bruno and therefore this article is going to give you a list of challenges you can do that are going to be both fun and develop your confidence beyond anything you will ever imagine.

Now of course, we are not suggesting you dress in your skimpiest outfit and wear a suit made entirely of Velcro…but here are some things that might be more up your alley! If you truly do these exercises I swear to you that you will immediately see an incredible difference in the way that people react to you and deal with you. You will become powerful and influential quickly. (By the way, do all of these things with a friend who is willing to push you. Push each other to complete these challenges)

The Challenges

The Subway Challenge

Those of you living in New York may have had the good fortune of running into myself or Mo Mehlman doing our now legendary subway speeches. Here is what you do. While on a bus or subway you get up and in front of the entire subway car or bus profess your love for literature, tell a fun soliloquy, a poem, sing a song or anything else you might prefer. Check out the video below of me performing the Subway Challenge:

The purpose of this is simple. After getting up and giving a speech about nothing to an entire subway car full of people it will be a cinch to go ahead and flirt with that cute guy, or make friends with random people in a lounge. At least you don’t have an entire subway car looking at you whilst you speak.

The Umbrella Challenge

This was a suggestion given to me by an avid reader: Basically go into a mall, open up an umbrella, walk around (indoors) and start conversations with people. When asked why you have an umbrella open indoors simply declare: “because of the rain of course”.

The Forehead Clock

This is a particularly fun one also taken from classical psychology. Paint a blue clock on your forehead with the time on it and then walk around asking people for the time. (There is actually a difference between using blue and red. Ill let you find out what the difference is. If you really want to know drop me an email.

The Sky Stare

This is a fun one. Go to a central place with a few friends (you need around four) then all you need do is get you and your four friends to stand there and stare up at the ceiling. Do this for about three minutes and you will actually find that other people will stop and simply stare at the ceiling along with you. Staring at nothing of course is the general idea.

The Peacock Challenge

Find an incredibly crazy hat, an incredibly crazy jacket, put the two together and then walk around and talk to people. Of course I don’t suggest you do this at your best friends birthday party but rather at a place where you will not be recognized and you can be free to experiment to get out of your comfort zone!

You will find that people’s reactions to you tend to be amazingly different than normal and not in a bad way. In a surprisingly good way.

The Random Opener Challenge

This is an important one and I again want to stress how important it is for you to have a friend who will push you and help you to do these challenges. This challenge is to walk over to a random stranger and ask an incredibly strange question, my favorite for this being, “Excuse me, where can I get a stuffed monkey?”

The purpose of this is simple. After asking this sort of strange question to a random stranger walking over to somebody who is a possible business connection or date and asking a normal question is going to be incredibly easy!

The Yoga Challenge

This one is simple. Find a group of people, doing yoga, exercise, jogging, or even standing around talking and walk over and join them! Say this as you join them: “Sorry I am late everyone, traffic was murder” and join in on the exercise. (Those of you located in New York, visit central park on a Sunday and you will find plenty of yoga groups I promise you.)

So all of this sounds intense, after all would you actually go and do these things? Well yes, those of you who want to head out and have a good time while actually doing challenges that will tremendously up your confidence level should call a friend, print out this article and immediately get a move on. After all, you have no idea what you are missing out on until you try now do you?

And remember this: If you are afraid to do it, you have an obligation to yourself to do it! Take a chance, take the risk and grow as a person!

About the Author: Yehuda Neuman is a widely renowned relationship expert and dating coach as well as professional sales consultant for some of the largest companies in New York City. Visit stylesofthemind.com and follow him on twitter or facebook: