Why nail techs should push themselves out of their comfort zone
By Katie Barnes | 09 October 2018 | Expert Advice, Feature, Tech Talk
Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a nail structure girl through and through. Give me a pink & white challenge and I am in my element and what I would consider my weakness, is art. I can paint a face well, but the steps to achieve it don’t flow naturally.
I recently returned from Nailympia London, renowned for being one of the toughest international nail competitions in the world, at which I won Top UK Tech in Division 3 as the highest scoring individual UK tech of the competition.
I achieved this by pushing myself outside my comfort zone and tackling my fear of entering the Fantasy Nails category. Before entering, I went in blind and had to learn how to create a fantasy piece; from the costume to positioning the tips on the model on the competition day. I mastered so much from creating this such as composition, product control, and taking on my weaknesses and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and the outcome.
Leaving myself with just two weeks to create my nails due to other work commitments, I knew this wasn’t going to be a winning entry, but I still made sure I pushed myself as hard as I could to challenge myself and my skills and I am proud to have done so and completed the piece I did in the timeframe. It’s given me the push to do it again and strive to better myself.
As a teacher, I think that it is essential to keep up with my practical skills and challenge myself when motivating my students to do exactly the same and constantly push themselves and their abilities.
In our comfort zone, there is a sense of familiarity, security and certainty. When you step outside of your comfort zone, you’re taking a risk, it can be daunting, but you are opening ourselves up to many more opportunities and challenges. By pushing yourself outside your comfort zone, it can push to achieve goals that you never thought you could, and I think this is especially important in such a fast paced, creative industry.
Each and every one of us will have techs in the industry that we admire. Behind the scenes, those who achieve have worked hard, failed and picked themselves up more times than you would ever think to get where they are.
Remember – dreams don’t come true overnight. They take hard work, dedication and patience but nothing worth having ever comes easy. It is much more rewarding when you have worked hard and challenged yourself to achieve.
We should all be trying to drive ourselves outside of our comfort zone to try to achieve higher standards within our careers and the industry as a whole. Pushing yourself outside your comfort zone doesn’t have to be a leap; stepping outside your everyday routine to learn or try something new is all part of achieving this. Competitions can be a great way to try something new and push your skills, but this isn’t always for everyone. It could be learning a new skill or changing your career direction.
How can we expect to evolve in our careers as nail techs, which is such a fast-paced evolving industry if we only stick to habit and routine?
Reaching new heights involves the risk of attempting something we might not succeed at. Not achieving this is not failure. The success is in pushing yourself to achieve and taking what you learn to achieve this from the journey.
If you don’t reach your goal the first time, don’t give up too easily; persistence pays off in the end and sometimes this means going back to the drawing board several times and before getting it right. It takes a while to learn, to experiment and to fine–tune but as the saying goes, ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again‘. Learn from every ‘failure’ and keep going until you have succeeded.
While reading this, I am sure there will be something in the back of your mind you want to achieve. Take today as the first day to put the wheels in motion to start reaching your goals.
Love Katie B x