The #1 Reason You Haven’t Had More Success In Life

by Patrick Stoeckmann on November 17, 2009 · 28 comments

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Author: Patrick Stoeckmann (1 Articles)

Patrick Stoeckmann is the founder of UnwrapYourMind.com - one of the fastest growing blogs in the area of Personal Development. He has been trained by some of the most influential thinkers in the area of human development including Anthony Robbins and Tony Buzan. He is a professional and personal coach, a certified non-medical practitioner, a certified classical homeopath, owner of a highly successful computer consulting company, part time actor and trainer for acting and improvisational theatre. In a nutshell - he likes variety very much.

I bet everyone of you dreams (at least sometimes) about having more money, love, joy, energy or health in your life? Right? And I also bet, that everyone of you has already done a zillion attempts to achieve just that. And though you had successes in some areas, I bet there are some areas, where you just couldn’t make it happen, no matter what? You try, you push, you change approaches, but you’ll always yield the same results. Why?

Because there is a subconscious mechanism within you, that won’t allow you to succeed in those areas. It is sabotaging your own efforts, to make sure you won’t leave your “Comfort Zone.”

Although you might have heard of your “Comfort Zone” before, you might have never heard about a way to alter your Comfort Zone, so that it allows your dreams to become true.

Would you like to learn such a system? I bet you do, so let’s go.

The Concept of Your Comfort Zone

You’ve heard the term “Comfort Zone” several times already. But although this concept is a true and useful one, it needs to be specified even more to become useful in tackling with your problems.

Your Comfort Zone has 3 key points:

  1. Your Unconscious Upper Limit (UUL) – The Stall Mechanism
  2. Your Unconscious Lower Limit (ULL) – The Kickstart Mechanism
  3. The Neutral State (NS)

We should get to know these 3 key points of your comfort zone a little bit more in detail.

Your Unconscious Upper Limit (UUL) – The Stall Mechanism

This subconscious limit will stop you from rising above a certain level of success, money, love or happiness. This is the internal barrier that you have built up in your head, that won’t allow you to ever experience more joy, love, happiness, success or money, than you feel you are worth. It is like a plane going too high that will stall and fall down to a level, where the pilot is again able to catch the fall in a zone accustomed for the type of plane. If you compare it to a thermostat, this would be the temperature when it get’s too hot and the air conditioner kicks in. And that is how your subconscious feels. It’s getting too hot in here, so let’s cool it down. This limit is tightly connected with the concept of self-worth.

No matter how much you believe in yourself as a limitless, spiritual being, we all have these limits in our minds.

Even the most successful people have them. They have just learned to raise them, so they won’t stop them from achieving what they want.

It is not about whether you have an upper limit, it is about whether that one causes you trouble, frustrates you and hinders you from growing further at this time.

The Auto-Mechanism of Your Subconscious Mind

It is as if your subconscious had a built-in auto-mechanism driving you directly to the events that will guarantee the (maybe not so desired) outcome for you.

And that is exactly what happens. You have an internal feeling of comfort within a certain range. Let’s go with a money example now. Let’s assume you are making 60,000$ per year. And you did so for maybe 3 years now in a row. If I would ask you how sure you are that you would make 60,000$ next year, you might be pretty sure that you can make it again. What if I challenged you to make 70,000$? Well, you might feel a little bit uncomfortable about it, but not that much. You might have some ideas on how to get it. How about 80,000$, 90,000$ or even 100,000$. Now that uncomfortable feeling might be getting worser. Maybe you could imagine yourself making 80,000$ putting in a lot more effort, but I might have lost you with 90,000 or 100,000$. Then you might realize, that 80,000$ is your upper limit.

What Is the Psychological Reason for the Unconscious Upper Limit (UUL)

You subconscious is not your enemy. It is your friend. And it’s only reason to install limits within you is to protect you.

It wants to protect you from harm and from being dissatisfied. There is safety in shooting low. Missing a goal you were really going for, could be a devastating experience for the self worth (as long as you identify your self worth with attaining that goal, but that is another point). And your subconscious doesn’t want you to experience this pain. So going for less, for the safe side or the easy, achievable goal is a self-protecting mechanism.

Your Unconscious Lower Limit (ULL) – The Kickstart Mechanism

On the other side is another mechanism working. This limit is the lower threshold. This is how low you allow yourself to go, before all your instincts, all energy and focus is brought into play to get you back up. It is the level, where your subconscious associates a threat for your survival with the current situation. Again, comparing it to a thermostate, this is the point where it is getting too cold, so the heater kicks in. And so your subconscious gets you to move things and kicks in your efforts to get back into the comfort zone again.

Let’s assume now, again you are making 60,000$ (and you did so for 3 straight years). How would you feel, if next year, you would only make 50,000$. Well you might feel uncomfortable again, but you might come up with some things you could cut your expenses on. Let’s go even deeper – 40,000$ or 30,000$. I bet you won’t feel so comfortable then. How about 20,000$ or even 10,000$. There is again a level, where your subconscious would scream “NO WAY – I won’t allow this to happen. This is dangerous for my survival”.

Well, even if it won’t be threatening your physical survival (there are a lot of people surviving with less than 10,000$ or even less) there is a level where your subconscious associates massive pain with making only that much money. Again, you should find out that level for you.

The Neutral State (NS)

This is the state where you are okay with a situation. Not great, not bad, but okay. In the above mentioned example that might be making 60,000$ – or maybe not, depending on the feeling a person associates with this amount.

Establishing Your Comfort Scales

You need to establish your comfort scale, so you can exactly pinpoint how much comfort or discomfort you associate with anything. The key to this is focusing on your body feelings. Your body feelings will tell you much more precisely how comfortable you are with a situation, then your intellect.

Comfort is associated with body feelings.

Let’s establish a scale from 1 to 10.

  • 1 being so much discomfort and pain, that there is no way to tolerate it. This is the ultimate life threat.
  • 10 meaning the most enjoyable state you could think of.
  • 5 would be neutral, so this would be the Neutral State (NS), where you are okay with a situation. It isn’t great and it isn’t bad, just okay. Although this sounds boring it is essential to know where this level is for you.

Now let’s fill this theoretical scale with life. For this money is a great tool, because for most of us, money is an essential ingredient of life and therefore, a good measurement for our comfort level.

So remember the Comfort Scale:

1 (Ultimate Discomfort or Pain) … 5 (Neutral, okay) … 10 (Ultimate Comfort or Joy)

Establish your Comfort Scale for HAVING THE MONEY

  1. Consider you current annual income. Where on this scale are you with making that much money? Make a note, and experience how you feel in your body. Do you feel any signs of comfort or discomfort, when thinking about it? Look out for any change in your body: tightness, relaxation, warmth, cold, tingling, pain, sourness, nervousness, salivation just to name a few. This is your baseline point. It could be 5 or a bit below or above. Note that the baseline couldn’t be 1, since 1 is so much pain, that you would find a way to change it, no matter what. Even if you are not satisfied on a conscious level with your income, there is a part within you, who feels comfortable enough with it not to change the situation.
  2. Think about how comfortable you would feel if you HAD 10%, 20%, 30% and more money per year. Go up as high as you like. Note for every amount, how comfortable you feel inside thinking about having it. Note for every new level the change in your body feelings.
  3. Then think about making 10% less per year or 20% or 30%. Note how your Comfort Level changes and how your body reacts to this.

What you should have at the end are the body signs, that signal you the different comfort levels of your scale. You should be aware how your body feels when confronted with the different levels of discomfort and comfort.

Establishing this scale once is a very important step of the procedure.

Now let’s go one step further. This time don’t think about having the money, think about MAKING it.

Establish your Comfort Scale for MAKING THE MONEY:

  • Start with your annual income. How comfortable are you with making it again next year?
  • Then go up 10%, 20%, 30% and higher. How comfortable are you with making that much more money next year?
  • Then go down 10%, 20%, 30% and lower. How comfortable are you with making only so little money?

Now compare those 2 scales, and you might be surprised.

You might find, that if you go lower than your actual income, that the pain of only making less money than you have is growing stronger but the trust in yourself that you can make it is also getting stronger. If you are currently making 60,000$, you will feel quite a discomfort about making only 40,000$ (maybe that is level 3), but you are quite sure, that you could make it (or better) next year (maybe Level 8,9 or 10).

Conversely, if you increase your annual income, you will find, that you would be quite comfortable with having it but the higher you go, the less you are sure, that you will make it. So if you currently are making 60,000$ making $90,000 would surely feel good (maybe level 6, 7, 8 or higher) but you are not so comfortable with your ability to make it (maybe 4 or even 3).

Remember – these levels are actual body feelings. This is key for the next step.


Raising Your Comfort Zone

Now you have 2 Comfort Levels for each $-amount. A Comfort Level for “Having the Money” and one for “Making the Money”. Remember money is here just an example. I could also say you have 2 Comfort Levels for “Wanting it” and “Trusting in Yourself that you can make it happen”.

The key to raising your Comfort Zone is by associating the feelings of comfort with the image of making a certain level happen.

Here is how to do it. The whole process consists of 2 Steps.

Step 1 – Dialogue With Your Fear

  1. Ask your subconscious, why there are feelings of discomfort associated with you making more money.
  2. Write down in your journey what comes to your mind. What negative consequences might be associated. Write them down.
  3. Consider if these are actual, real problems, that could occur. Then thank your subconscious for bringing them up and consider them in the future.

Step 2 – Associating Comfort With the Steps Beyond Your Current Comfort Zone

  1. Remember the good feelings of comfort in your body (choose intuitively from Level 6-10)
  2. Imagine doing the thing (e.g. imagine making 90,000$ – not having, but actually earning them)
  3. Now listen to your body. Once you really think about it, those old feelings of doubt, worry and discomfort will come back.
  4. If so, drop the picture and try to remember the feelings of comfort again in your body
  5. Bring back the pictures of you making it happen (e.g. making 90,000$)
  6. If your feeling of comfort vanishes, drop the picture again, bring back the good feelings and then bring in the pictures again.
  7. Continue to do so, until you are able to see yourself doing the things necessary to make it happen while at the same time feeling in your body feelings of comfort and trust.
  8. Repeat this process for at least a week, better 30 days. Do it at least early in the morning and before going to sleep. You can do it more often if you like. Once you’ve done it 3-4 times, you will get it much faster.

Once your subconscious has build a neuro-connection for this new couple (picture of future success and feelings of comfort), you will no longer need to push towards making things happen. You will feel yourself drawn towards them. This will be one of the most interesting and releasing experiences you will ever have.

How to Use This Process to Change Anything in Your Life

This process is not only able to change your comfort zone towards money. Money was just picked for demonstration purpose. You can use this process for anything you can quantify and rate on a scale from 1 to 10.

Could you rate:

  • your experience of love?
  • your feelings of happiness?
  • your health and vitality?

Of course you could and therefore you could use that process for all these areas. Try it and watch out for enormous changes happening to you.

Break through the glass ceilings that are limiting you in every area of life. Enjoy the ride.

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November 17, 2009 at 7:54 pm

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1 Steven Aitchison November 17, 2009 at 7:44 pm

Patrick, I wanted to welcome you to CYT and thank you for writing this outstanding post. I think everyone will agree it is a great piece of writing and one that can be referred to time and time again.

The concepts that you have raised about the comfort zone having 3 zones is just brilliant and it’s something I have looked into since you sent this to me. You deserve the great feedback you will receive from this.

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2 Jonathan - Advanced Life Skills November 17, 2009 at 8:09 pm

Wow Patrick, this was so complete and I love the logical unfolding of the article. I totally relate to the way you think, excellent!
Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..Make It Happen Now Countdown UPDATE My ComLuv Profile

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3 Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com November 17, 2009 at 8:13 pm

Jonathan, thanks very much. It actually goes very nicely with your ‘Make it happen now countdown’, since making such a huge stretch definitely needs a radical redefinition of your comfort zone. Great approach.
Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com´s last blog ..The False Concepts of Hope My ComLuv Profile

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4 Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com November 17, 2009 at 8:10 pm

Thank you Steven for such a wonderful oportunity. It is a pleasure writing for such an awesome blog. And CYT is quite a great family to be in.
Hope your readers will reap rich rewards from applying the principles.
Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com´s last blog ..The False Concepts of Hope My ComLuv Profile

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5 Zoli Cserei November 17, 2009 at 10:32 pm

In my case, the most important reason when I had less success than I could was either laziness, either bad attitude. Usually, I can easily step out of my comfort zone, the motivation to do so is often lacking, though.

Zoli
Zoli Cserei´s last blog ..Green is the new Digital! My ComLuv Profile

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6 Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com November 17, 2009 at 11:12 pm

Zoli, but is that really meaning you went out of your comfort zone? Compare it with exercise. Yes, you could follow 1 or 2 weeks of exercise and during those times, you felt you’ve went out of your comfort zone. But that was just a temporarily move beyond those borders. And your subconscious already thinks this is a threat, so it activates certain psychological trigger mechanism to bring you back into your comfort zone – laziness, skipping exercises, feeling tired, making up good excuses, you name it.

It is because steping out of your comfort zone (which your subconscious doesn’t like) and changing your comfort zone (which brings your conscious steps and your subconscious desires into alignment) are 2 totally different things.

With a changed comfort zone, laziness isn’t a problem, since your subconscious doesn’t need it any longer as a protective mechanism.

You’ll enjoy doing those things, because you feel indeed pretty comfortable doing those things. Comfort here means you have a body reaction of enjoying the process. This doesn’t come from mind, it comes from the subconscious which uses your body signals to communicate with you.

Again – if you bring your subconscious in alignment with your intention procrastination and laziness are no problems any longer
Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com´s last blog ..The False Concepts of Hope My ComLuv Profile

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7 Bissel November 18, 2009 at 6:41 am

The most important reason when I had less success than I could was either laziness, either bad attitude.

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8 Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com November 18, 2009 at 10:31 am

Again, see my above mentioned comment on laziness, since you quote Zoli.
Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com´s last blog ..The False Concepts of Hope My ComLuv Profile

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9 Lana - DreamFollowers Blog November 18, 2009 at 8:34 am

Patrick, this is such an excellent post and I love how logically you explained everything so anyone can understand and apply. I’ve been studying subconscious mind for quite some time now but I don’t think I had such clarity of how it works until now. I also tried several techniques in the past for aligning our subconscious beliefs and conscious intentions but none of them were as clear and to the point as the one you outlined here. Thank you! I’ll definitely apply the 2 step process, I already have a list of areas I need to apply it to.
Lana – DreamFollowers Blog´s last blog ..Finding Your Life Purpose: The Most Powerful Way to Discover What You Truly Want In Life My ComLuv Profile

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10 Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com November 18, 2009 at 10:34 am

Lana, go for it. The power you get when aligning conscious decisions with your unconscious beliefs is incredible and it will make the journey so much smoother, since you won’t have to willpower anymore against procrastination and other protective mechanisms of you subconscious mind.
Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com´s last blog ..The False Concepts of Hope My ComLuv Profile

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11 Karlil November 18, 2009 at 9:07 am

Hey Patrick. This is one hell of an article. For me, I personally find motivation essential in stepping out of my comfort zone. The Why factor, if you may.
Karlil´s last blog ..A Simple Guide To Grow And Improve My ComLuv Profile

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12 Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com November 18, 2009 at 10:40 am

Karlil, indeed motivation (the Why factor) is essential, yet it makes a huge difference if this motivation is conscious or subconscious based. Finding rational motives only, allow maybe a single step out of the comfort zone. However soon the subconscious protective mechanisms kick in. Bringing in subconscious motives (which are feeling based) will indeed move you to a new zone.

So for me true motivation is always bringing in your subconscious feeling motives and your conscious rational motives in alignment. There is great power to that.
Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com´s last blog ..The False Concepts of Hope My ComLuv Profile

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13 Amit Sodha - The Power Of Choice November 18, 2009 at 1:48 pm

Hey Patrick,

Fantastic article and I love the way you think. If I may I’d like to introduce another part to this process that has personally worked me. From coaching people I’ve also seen that lack of success is often as a result of an imbalanced perspective. The term succes, of course, being relative, Some people may view my life and see me as successful. Yet I may look at my life and not feel successful. So If I’m dealing with someone who doesn’t feel successful I may ask them firstly, where do you have success in life right now? If they can’t find anything then I believe they’re not looking hard enough or have a skewed view of their life. So I will try say to them, everyone has success at some level, tell me where you have success in life? I keep going until I get them to a point where they start seeing the success.

To a person earning £60,000 dollars, in their own opinion they want to be successful in earning $100,000. I might take them back and ask them…do you remember when you were earning $30,000, at that point in time what was the thought of earning $60,000 and did it seem possible at the time?

I hope I’ve made some kind of sense but I’m loving the post and your quality of writing!

All the best,

Amit
Amit Sodha – The Power Of Choice´s last blog ..Choose Your Inspirational Acronym For The Week My ComLuv Profile

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14 Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com November 18, 2009 at 6:17 pm

Amid, I know what you refering to – and that is a very good addition. People often have lost touch with their own values and therefore often loose perspective about what success really means. Asking yourself this question is another very important stepping stone to becoming self-aware. I think this precedes the above mentioned mechanism (and should be included in its own article). For only when you are able to define what success means to you, and only when this comes from a balanced perspective, are we able to bring our subconscious mind into alignment with our conscious mind. Great point.
Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com´s last blog ..The False Concepts of Hope My ComLuv Profile

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15 Amit Sodha - The Power Of Choice November 20, 2009 at 12:46 pm

I agree that you could do a whole article on just that point alone. Maybe that could be your prequal to this one. Maybe we could even work on one together! A
Amit Sodha – The Power Of Choice´s last blog ..How To Be Drunk Without The Alcohol My ComLuv Profile

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16 Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com November 20, 2009 at 8:52 pm

Well Amid, that would surely be a good piece. Why don’t you come up with a draft? Could become a great guest post!
Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com´s last blog ..UNWRAPPED: 5 Steps to Overcome Any Distraction My ComLuv Profile

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17 Wayne November 19, 2009 at 1:02 am

Thank you for this post. I feel better already. I feeling more comfortable with the thought of having one hundred thousand dollars. I am also feeling comfortable with the thought that I am worth one hundred thousand dollars. Thank you once again. I do have the potential to add a lot of value to society. I wrote $100,000.00 on an index card and put it beside my computer. Every day I will look at it and become more and more comfortable with 100,000 dollars.

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18 Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com November 20, 2009 at 8:54 pm

Wayne, becoming more and more comfortable is the first step to realization. From this not only new ideas can be created but also the necessary steps will become so much easier.
Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com´s last blog ..UNWRAPPED: 5 Steps to Overcome Any Distraction My ComLuv Profile

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19 Vincent November 26, 2009 at 4:17 am

Hey Patrick,

This is a great article on how to raise our comfort zone. By raising our comfort zone, we will be able to go on to the next level to achieve more results and success. Gave this article a stumbled :)

Cheers,
Vincent
Vincent´s last blog ..I Beat Myself Up For Failing To Complete My To-Do List And Why It Is A Bad Idea My ComLuv Profile

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20 Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com November 26, 2009 at 8:35 am

Vincent, thank you. I hope this method will be useful for your own growth and success.
Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com´s last blog ..The Homeopathic Principle of Change My ComLuv Profile

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21 Mia December 3, 2009 at 5:08 am

A very thorough article about Comfort Zones, thank you. I hadn’t thought about my Comfort Zone in that much detail before.

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22 Arvind Devalia December 9, 2009 at 6:00 pm

Patrick, an excellent post and very thought provoking. There seems to be no end to your talents and writing skills!

I can see how this would work in all areas of my life. Thanks.

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23 Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com December 16, 2009 at 10:03 am

Arvind, I would love to hear in the future what successes you had using this technique.
Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com´s last blog ..The Lessons of Pain My ComLuv Profile

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24 LaTalya Palmer-Lewis December 15, 2009 at 4:12 pm

I am still digesting this… All I can say right now is WOW. Thank you for this incredible post!

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25 Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com December 16, 2009 at 10:03 am

LaTalya, thank you I hope this WOW effect will keep you using it and you get more WOWs about your successes with it.
Patrick @ unwrapyourmind.com´s last blog ..The Lessons of Pain My ComLuv Profile

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26 Aaron December 24, 2009 at 7:59 am

And then “thermostate?” Come on. If you are going to bill yourself as some kind of fancy blogger at least fire up the spell checker man!

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27 Natasha January 2, 2010 at 2:23 am

Nice blog. I’ve passed it on, and will try to apply it to this new year!

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