Are you dangerous or are you comfortable? Does being dangerous sound like it does not apply to your life? You may not know it, but comfort is the biggest threat to your success. In your efforts to find or maintain what’s comfortable, you lose out on making gains towards your potential. To be great and have true success, you have to be willing to give up on being comfortable—you have to stay dangerous.

I got too comfortable before the real estate collapse in 2008. I became soft and complacent, enjoying the comforts that I had, playing five hour golf games and taking long weekend trips with hours of introspection. When the crash came, I almost got wiped out. I was resting on my laurels and lost the obsessive push to drive straight towards my fears.

Since then, I’ve learned that you have to stay dangerous to avoid danger. Although it sounds counterintuitive, when you’re committed to staying dangerous, you challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone and expand in new ways that reinvent your purpose. I promise you, you won’t find your path to your purpose in your comfort zone. You have to move directly toward your challenges—the things that terrify you—because that’s where greatness lives.

You probably already know that I’m obsessed with being the most dangerous person in my space. That’s why I make it my priority to engage in activities outside of my comfort zone—they force me to expand and solidify my place in the future. Not everyone has to write books or create sales and business training programs. There are many successful millionaires, billionaires even, that have never written books or trained people with new skills. Those are things that terrified me, so I knew that I had to do them. I’ve said it before; fear is an indication of the things that you should do, not what you shouldn’t do. I’ve learned that if you get complacent, your future can be taken away from you no matter how much work you’ve done up to that point.

Here are a few ways to stay dangerous:

#1 Move Out of Your Hometown

88% of all people live a few miles from where they grew up. Moving can be one of the most stressful things that you do. To be dangerous, force yourself out of your comfort zone, in this case, literally get out and try a new city. Moving has been a monster growth builder for me. It forced me to be nimble and create success wherever I went. Remember, your happiness and success is not tied to a specific location.

#2 Constantly Connect With New People

Spending time on the couch or at a club is not being dangerous. It’s being predictable—everyone does that. You have to do things that terrify you, and for most, it’s breaking the ice and meeting new people. Understand this is not unique to you. I was terrified when I did my first TV interview with Fox News and speaking to thousands of top agents at an organization as an unknown expert. It doesn’t matter who you are—if you want to stay dangerous you have to embrace your fears and connect with new people in new situations.

#3 You Don’t Have to Be Popular

Not everyone has to like you. I’m not talking about becoming prom king or queen here. I’m talking about making decisions even if it’s unpopular and opposite of what is expected. I recently renegotiated a 32 million dollar apartment under contract because the numbers no longer made sense to me. I knew everyone involved would freak out and label me as a “re-trader”, but I wasn’t willing to risk my financial situation to appease public opinion. My wife told me “everyone is going to hate you,” but I did it anyway. There were major complaints, moaning and groaning, but I ended up saving $2.8 million on the deal. Here’s the point—you’re not going to please everyone all the time. If you know why you’re doing what you’re doing, then do it, even if it’s unpopular with others.

#4 How Do You Know If You’re Dangerous?

If you want to have success you need to reinvest your purpose daily. That means expanding and looking for ways to stay dangerous. Being uncomfortable leads to success. When your back is against the wall, you’re forced to do the things that you should have been doing all along. I’ll say it again; you will not find the path to your purpose inside your comfort zone.

Here are a few things you should ask yourself this week:

• Are you re-creating who you are?
• Are you reaching new people?
• Are you developing new streams of income?

Do any of these scare you right now? If not, then you aren’t doing things that are worth doing…Remember, staying dangerous is how you stay out of danger. You’re on the right track if you’re running towards the thing that terrify you. Stay hungry. Stay dangerous. Come to 10XGrowthCon 2018.

Be great,

GC