100+ Ways to Get Outside Your Comfort Zone

Lately I’ve been trying to introduce myself to small ways of practicing getting outside of my comfort zone. Trying things that feel awkward or strange, but learning how to do it anyway. Learning how to feel comfortable while doing it. 

So today I give you a giant list of exercises and ways to get outside of your comfort zone, get weird, and embrace some of that craziness inside of you.

If you’re someone who struggles with fear, self consciousness, and dealing with the opinions of others, this is for you. This will help you desensitize yourself to their opinions and feel comfortable in your own skin. 

All of these are safe for you and others. You will not get hurt trying any of these. There is nothing violent or aggressive. This is about getting outside of your comfort zone in healthy ways. 

Some are more difficult or extreme than others, and these are not listed in any particular order. I merely freestyled this as I went. Feel free to create your own along the way.

Here we go 🙂

1. Public speaking
2. Stand up Comedy
3. Live improv
4. Freestyle rap
5. Lead a group workshop/teach a class
6. Approach someone you are attracted to
7. Approach a stranger and strike up a conversation with them
8. Approach a stranger and ask them to play rock paper scissor
9. Approach a stranger and ask them to freestyle rap battle you
10. Approach a stranger and ask them to dance with you
11. Dance in public all alone
12. Dance while walking down the street
13. Sing in public
14. Approach a stranger and ask them to sing with you
15. Dance and sing at the same time in public!
16. Make weird noises
17. Make weird voices and create characters
18. Pretend to be a baby/child
19. Get weird at the snap of a finger
20. Yell as loud as you can
21. Make loud strange noises in a crowded public place
22. Lie in the middle of the floor in a crowded place
23. Roll around on the floor
24. Pretend you’re a fish out of water flopping around on the floor
25. Try to laugh on command
26. Try to cry on command
27. Try to get angry on command
28. Try to speak to someone in a foreign language
29. Speak to someone who speaks a language you don’t understand with only hand gestures
30. Travel somewhere new
31. Travel somewhere new…alone
32. Travel somewhere slightly dangerous. Safe but with a certain edginess to it.
33. Sit alone in silence without moving for an hour
34. Complete a 10 day Vipassana Meditation retreat
35. Introduce yourself in a crowded elevator
36. Sit with a snake and let it slither all around your body
37. Eat strange foods like bugs or live octopus
38. Cook something you’ve never tried to cook before
39. Drink weird beverages like snake blood
40. Eat/Drink a psychedelic of some kind
41. Go to a concert/dance festival by yourself
42. Go out and get shiftfaced by yourself and chat people up all night
43. Go out by yourself and chat people up all night stone cold sober
44. Become a street performer and put a hat out to collect money
45. Spend an hour alone with twenty five 7 year old children
46. Eat a heavy dosage of a marijuana edible 
47. Ask to sit first class on your flight without paying for it
48. Ask for free coffee at Starbucks because you’re a good person
49. Imagine you are Buddha and treat everyone you meet with as much love and compassion as you can
50. Make all of your decisions for a day by the roll of a dice
51. Do something that is outside of your normal sexual comfort zone – this has a wide spectrum so I’ll let you decide
52. Have someone whip you/inflict pain on you
53. Hug someone and hold it for 30 seconds
54. Stare into someones eyes for 1 minute straight
55. Jump into a mosh pit
56. Ask all of your closest friends and family members to roast you and insult you
57. Become an actor/actress – pick a character and do your best to enact it
58. Do karate in your room and kick and punch like you’re in a video game
59. Take cold showers/jump into a freezing cold lake
60. Sit in a sauna for 30 minutes
61. Run at full speed for as long as you can
62. Do as many pushups/pullups/situps/squats as you can
63. Try a new workout you’ve never done before
64. Get into the boxing ring/octagon and spar with someone
65. Wake up earlier than you normally do for 90 days straight
66. Wear strange clothing in public
67. Wear a sunga/speedo to the beach
68. Pretend it’s halloween and wear a costume one day
69. Roll around in the mud/dirt
70. Get naked in front of someone 
71. Have an art class paint you while you’re naked
72. Have someone cover you in body paint 
73. If you’re a straight man – pretend to be flamboyantly gay. Be as feminine as you can. – If you’re a woman – be as masculine as you can.
74. If you’re a man – dress as a woman. – If you’re a woman – dress as a man.
75. Be a stripper with a live audience
76. Eat nothing but rice and beans for a week
77. Eat Kimchi
78. Do intermittent fasting for 18 hours a day
79. Do an extended fast of 3-5 days (responsibly!)
80. Extreme sports of any kind
    1. Skydiving
    2. Bungee jumping
    3. Paragliding
    4. Parasailing
    5. Hang Gliding
    6. Rock Climb
    7. Slackline/Highline
    8. Mountain Bike
    9. Skiing/Snowboarding
    10. Waterski
    11. Kite surfing
    12. Repelling
    13. Scuba Diving
81. Create an overly long list like this to stretch the capacity of your mind. 
82. Anything that was ever shown on the show Fear Factor
83. Start a business
84. Gamble an excessively large amount of money
85. Learn how to do something you’ve never done before
86. Try to email and get in contact with your top 10 life heroes.
87. Go to New Delhi, India
88. Try the salt-water colon flush
89. Try Rapé
90. Post pictures and videos of yourself on social media when you look your worst
91. Make a video of yourself doing nothing but staring into the camera and breathing
92. Try Troy-Chi
93. Say NO to something you normally say yes to, even if that means confrontation
94. Embrace a confrontation you’ve been avoiding
95. Think about the most traumatic memory you’ve had in life and try to be grateful for it
96. Forgive someone who has wronged you
97. Write a love letter to every member of your friends and family
98. Share a secret with someone 
99. Fall in love
100. Sell everything and travel the world indefinitely 

Enjoy! 🙂

My only humble request – if you try any of these and get it on camera, please tag me on instagram @troyerstling. I want to quietly start a revolution of people looking to get outside of their comfort zone, and if you’ve made it this far in the article, I have faith you have what it takes to embrace these comfort zone challenges for the world to see.