So I’ve been working on my list of goals and I’ve decided on a few which I’ll be doing over the next few weeks and months. Ok, they might not all seem very ‘comfort zone expanding’ to some people but they bloody are to me. To understand why, you need to know the following:

I didn’t learn to swim until I was 16 due to some weird issue I always had with water. I managed to get over it on my first boozy holiday though with a spot of the old Dutch courage. I’m still not a fan of the sea though. Too many toothy, stingy and ugly things in there and it tastes absolutely disgusting. Oh, and it’s effing deep as well, I’ve heard. Another thing I have an issue with is heights (I’m not on my own there, I know that).

People say if you face your fears head on then you’re cured of them. Lies. All lies. But, it does give you more confidence to do the things you’re scared of in future with more confidence that you’ll pull through not-too-traumatised. For example, I’m not crazy about heights, like I said, but I’ve done a bungee jump and have been parasailing twice. Am I cured? Not in the slightest. I’d do them again though because the thrill of knowing that I’m defying my limiting mental issues is empowering and inspires me to do more things like it (even if I did nearly shit myself with dread at the time).

So anyway… the next four goals I’m setting at the same time, now, and working on them simultaneously. They are:

Top Board Dive

Diving off the top board at the swimming baths. It’s not bungee jump or parasailing high I know, but this time I’m not strapped to anything and it involves hitting the water. It’s actually important to me to do this because for years I’ve watched my mates do it and even kids and I’ve always pussied out. What’s worse is when I was living in Ibiza in 2011 my pals were going cliff jumping into the sea so I couldn’t go. Height + sea = shitty shorts for me! I’m going back to Ibiza again this year on holiday and this time when my mates go cliff jumping I god-dam-well intend to get involved! A few dives off the top board at the baths should ease me in a bit I reckon. Thinking I might take some shark fighting classes as well?! This will be a lifelong fear met. It’s the most important of the four, to me.

100 Push-Ups

Do 100 push-ups in a row. Not scary, but remember, comfort zones apply to mental strength/ physical strength/ psychological limitations. The most push-ups I ever managed in the past was 50. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get past 50 and I’d been weight lifting for four years at the time (I was carrying an extra three stone to what I am now though). Yeh, I only tried about 5 times but for some reason I landed on 50 each time. Not one less, not one more (definitely some sort of psychological thing going on there). Not sure how many I can do right now but I’ll film it and we’ll see. So a 100% increase on my personal best. That’ll be a decent achievement.

10 Wide Arm Pull-Ups

Do 10 wide arm pull-ups in a row. Currently I can do none. I tried the other day and failed miserably. I’ll get footage for this as well… just for a laugh if nothing else. Pull-ups are one of those exercises that hardly anyone can do unless they’ve trained for it and/or weigh about the same as a ten year old girl. There’s always distinct admiration in the air at the gym when some dude jumps up, grabs the bar and smashes out ten wide arm pull ups, especially when it’s followed by another two sets of the same. He knows it as well. Bottom line, this will be an achievement. From zero capability to 10 is a decent increase in anything.

Pestering Celebs

I read Four Hour Work Week a couple of years ago and Tim Ferriss, the Author, mentioned that a good one is to attempt to contact someone famous who you admire and ask for advice on something. It only counts when you get a reply so you might need to try quite a few. I never did get around to trying it out so now I am. I’ll include the letters, the question(s) and the answer(s) when I manage this one, along with the details of how I managed it.

So they’re the four comfort zone expanding goals I’m working on starting today. I’d say wish me luck, but luck doesn’t come into it… it’s all about getting stuck in and making stuff happen. Watch this space.

[image sources: Diver - gozonews.com, Pull ups - Men's Health]