Finding the Courage to Step Outside Your Career Comfort Zone
When facing job loss, career transition, or deep unfulfillment in your daily work, it is easy to retreat into what feels safe. We gravitate toward roles we’ve already mastered, comfort zones where failure isn’t a risk, and routines that demand very little of our faith.
But if you look closely at how God moves throughout history—and how remarkable human achievement happens today—you’ll notice a clear pattern: God rarely calls us to remain comfortable.
Recently, host Shawn Ryan sat down with Mike Rowe on The Shawn Ryan Show (Episode #319) for an insightful conversation about work ethic, human drive, and pushing past perceived limitations. Their exchange offers a powerful mirror for anyone currently standing at a career crossroads.
Overcoming Perceived Inadequacy: The Introvert and the Stutterer
If you feel unqualified for your next step, you are in good company. On paper, neither Shawn Ryan nor Mike Rowe seemed naturally built for the global media platforms they occupy today.
Shawn Ryan openly describes himself as an introvert who historically struggled with conversation. Yet, driven by a deep calling to give veterans and leaders a voice, he stepped far outside his comfort zone to build one of the top podcasts in the world. He actually started the podcast in his attic with his wife. 🙂
Similarly, Mike Rowe stuttered severely until he was 15 years old. By normal human logic, a career in public speaking, narration, and television hosting should have been completely off the table. Yet Rowe went on to build a career centered entirely on his voice.
Neither waited until they felt “naturally suited” or completely comfortable. They recognized a need, felt a calling, and stepped forward despite their limitations.
As the famous quote widely attributed to Christian author Mark Batterson reminds us:
“God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called.”
Scripture reinforces this truth from cover to cover. When God called Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt, Moses pleaded his own inadequacy: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent… I am slow of speech and tongue” (Exodus 4:10). God’s response wasn’t to change Moses’ natural personality, but to promise His divine presence and provision.
The Human Drive for Difficult Things
Through his mikeroweWORKS Foundation, Mike Rowe awards work-ethic scholarships to individuals pursuing skilled trades. He often faces a persistent question: Is it fair to judge or reward people based on work ethic when everyone is forged differently?
Rowe’s answer is clear: while we shouldn’t be judgmental or overly harsh—recognizing that everyone carries different backgrounds and challenges—the hard work of society still has to get done.
Human beings are wired with an innate desire to achieve, overcome obstacles, and do meaningful, difficult work. Rowe pointed to the commercial fishing industry featured in Deadliest Catch. In its first season, 6 fishermen lost their lives, a boat sank, and a greenhorn lost a finger. Yet when the docks opened for the second season, they were packed with applicants.
Why? Because a significant portion of the population is drawn to challenge. Tackling hard things and desiring real achievement isn’t a burden—it is a core part of the human condition.
A Personal Pivot: From CPA to Culture Leader
Sometimes, stepping out of your comfort zone means ending up in a career you never in a million years imagined for yourself. I am living proof of that reality.
In my book, Your Character Is Your Culture, I share my own non-traditional path. I started my career as a CPA—a classic numbers guy working in the structured, analytical world of accounting. But God had a different plan for my trajectory. I eventually transitioned from accounting into human resources, ultimately becoming a “retreaded CPA” who served as the Senior Vice President of Culture for UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune 5 company.
If you had told my younger self crunching numbers at an audit desk that I would spend decades helping shape organizational culture, executive leadership, and faith-based career ministries, I would have laughed. But thankfully, God has a sense of humor too! He uses our experiences, skills, abilities, and talents in ways we could never predict.
What Step #3 Teaches Us About Attitude
In Step #3 of our Crossroads Career workbook, Created For Good Works, we focus heavily on Attitude. Stepping out of your comfort zone requires an internal posture shift: moving from fear-based self-preservation to faith-based risk.
When you are unemployed or unfulfilled, comfort feels like a warm blanket, but it can quickly become a cage. Paul writes to Timothy with a reminder of the spiritual tools we’ve been given for times of hesitation:
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” — 2 Timothy 1:7
When you replace the spirit of fear with God-given power and a sound mind, you stop asking “What if I fail?” and start asking “What is God calling me to build?”
4 Practical Applications for the Crossroads in your Career
If you are currently unemployed, underemployed, or feeling trapped in a career rut, here are four practical ways to step outside your comfort zone this week:
1. Talk to Your Network About “Stretch” Opportunities
Let your network know you’re open to opportunities that stretch beyond your current experience. Don’t self-select out because you don’t meet every qualification. Trust that if God opens the door, He will equip you for the work.
2. Do One Thing That Scares Your Introvert (or Inner Critic)
Reach out to an industry executive for an informational interview, attend a local networking event, or pitch a project idea. Courage is not the absence of fear; it is moving forward in spite of it.
3. Reframe “Unrelated” Past Experience
Like a CPA learning to shape workplace culture, look at your past skills not as a rigid box, but as a unique toolkit. How can your background bring a fresh, distinct perspective to a completely new industry?
4. Embrace Difficult Work
Shift your focus from finding the “easiest” or most comfortable job to finding where you can add real, tangible value. Doing hard work with excellence builds character, resilience, and genuine fulfillment.
Trust God With Your Next Career Step
Don’t let your current perceived limitations dictate your future trajectory. Take a step out of the boat, lean into the hard work God has set before you, and trust Him to qualify you for the journey. You’ll be glad you did!
Dave Sparkman currently serves as the volunteer Crossroads Career board chair and local ministry leader. He is also the founder and managing director of Spark Your Culture, a corporate culture consulting firm. Prior to that he worked at UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune #5 public company, serving in the role of Chief Culture Officer. His unemployment experience came from the implosion of Arthur Andersen, where he served as the West Region Managing Partner, People.
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