For the first week of August, I was one of five students selected to be a part of my university's team for Entrepreneurship Immersion Week, a competition hosted by the Entrepreneurship Education Consortium.  The competition focused on creating a product or service of our choice and was then presented to a panel of judges.  The first, second and third place winners received a cash prize for their innovative ideas

Many have referred to my week away as a "vacation," but it was far from it.  There were many late nights, tons of hard work and hours of critical thinking that my team and I experienced over the course of five days.  The pressure was definitely on since John Carroll had won in the past two years, and we wanted to continue that tradition.  Fortunately, we were able to carry out that tradition and won first place!

Initially I did know any of the people I was working with that well, except my one Entrepreneurship professor who was my academic adviser at school.  Being in completely different environment made me somewhat nervous.  I did not know what to expect when working with my teammates but for the most part we all got along and became good friends after.

If you ever set goals for yourself, you will notice that most of your goals require you to go outside your comfort zone.  There may be "what if's," nerves, tears and fears of failure that may come along BUT think of it this way... you'll never know until you try.

By stepping outside your comfort zone, it is helping you live out your full potential.  You are exercising your capabilities and testing your limits.  It will only make you better by experimenting new ideas and things.  Being open minded is really important too.  Sometimes the outcomes of stepping outside your comfort are not what you expected, but you can often take away some type of lesson from it.

Believe or not, a lot of people do not step outside their comfort zone.  Everyone's boundaries are different but that doesn't mean you have to conform to other people's limitations or expectations.  If you want something, go for it.  No one should be holding you back from achieving greatness.  It's your comfort zone- your life, and you are the only one in control of that.

Are you ready to take that "leap of faith?"

x.

C