When is the last time you stepped outside of your comfort zone?

Businessman and entrepreneur Robert Dickie explains how stepping out in faith will help us grow and succeed in today’s ever-changing world. Robert is President of Crown Financial Ministries and author of The Leap.

Robert shares his experience working with people who have made the decision to take a leap of faith.

 “I get a chance to chat with people who are facing making a leap on their own. Sometimes it’s not by choice. There are times where companies just go out of business overnight and we are kicked out, we are forced to make that leap.

“Other times, there’s just this gnawing; there’s this urging deep down in our soul as we’ve been praying and we feel like God kind of calling us to do something different, to go in a different direction.”

In times of uncertainty, we need to remember God’s truth.

“One of the worst things that we can do during those times is to be scared and to let fear hold us back. But with the proper counselors with the proper guidance, really being on her knees in prayer, I believe that God opens up those doors and shows us where we should go. And that is when exciting opportunities that we could never anticipate are put before us.”

Risk-taking makes many people feel uncomfortable. But as Christians we are called to step out of our comfort zone.

“Any time you feel comfortable, you need to be extremely worried.”

Comfort should be a warning sign in our lives; a reminder that we need to step out in faith.

“If we follow Christ in everything that he’s taught us to do, we’re not going to be living lives of comfort; we should be uncomfortable most of the time.”

“From an economic standpoint, there’s a lot of times we can get lulled into this false sense of security saying, ‘I feel comfortable, everything’s okay. I wake up, go to work…I don’t need to progress in any way, shape or form.’

We need to be prepared or we might ‘miss the boat.’

Robert shares an important message from a Harvard professor that he interviewed for The Leap:

“He said, ‘Bob, what kids are learning in college today has a shelf life of about 3 years.’ What you learn after all these tens of thousands of dollars, the world has already passed. And he said, ‘They have got to stay on top of the things that are happening in the industry, in their sector, continuing to be lifelong learners… they need to learn what it means to be a lifelong learner; always acquiring skills, always adapting, because if they don’t the world is going to pass them by.’”

“What’s happening economically is that the world is rapidly changing around us. If we’re not staying abreast of what’s going on and developing and adding new skill sets and understanding what’s happening, the world’s going to pass us by. One morning we’re going to walk into the office and the boss is going to say, ‘Hey Jim, you did a great job for us for a long time, but you just don’t have the skill set that we need today.’”

We are encouraged to step outside of our comfort zone and become lifelong learners so that we can experience the life of abundance that God promised to us.

Not sure what your God-given talents and strengths are? Robert encourages us to take a Career Direct Assessment.

Highlight: Are you too comfortable?

Achieving success in today’s economy