The late great David Bowie was an advocate for doing things out of his comfort zone. He spoke about it frequently and cited doing so as hugely empowering.

Every time he released a new single he bucked the trend; he didn’t care whether his music was fashionable, he wrote as he pleased. And even before he hit the dizzy heights of musical success, he posed like a star in the states, when in reality he’d barely dented the UK market. He even conquered his fear of flying and flew from America to visit an old friend in London.

At every stage of his career, he was stretching his comfort zone. He was making powerful new connections in his brain which benefit our wellbeing in much the same way as physical exercise does.

Fundamentally, doing so is simply a shift in your mindset: when we think we can, we can, and when we think we can’t, we can’t.

So what if we start by thinking: “Maybe I can” as opposed to a resolute shutdown and a rigid “No, I can’t…”? Can you imagine how many new doors of possibility you could open? How much new energy could fill your souls with gratification and satisfaction?

It’s not easy, especially as we get older, because we can be guided by our own self-narrative, but we need to remember that it’s probably obsolete: we’re playing an old tune of doubt about something which we simply haven’t tried since childhood.

For example – because I paid little attention to my school work as a child, I assumed that I’d never be able to learn a foreign language. I was lugging around the voice of a doubting adult who once told me that “unless you learn a new language as a child, your brain won’t be able to comprehend it when you grow up.”

Of course, that’s not true, and although I’m not fluent, I understand and can speak some Italian now.

So, dare to stretch your mind out of your comfort zone and enjoy reaping new skills and achievements. You will feel a new level of accomplishment: all by shifting your mindset!