The Comfort-Zone Trap
We might all wish for a stress-free existence; a life where we are never plagued by feelings of anxiety or doubt. Truth is, we face an enormous number of stresses in day-to-day living, whether professionally or in our personal lives. It is these stresses that drive us to create behavioural patterns, routines, and mental paradigms that help us minimize stress and risk. This is what is known as the Comfort Zone.
The comfort zone is, by psychological definition, a mental state in which a person feels familiar, at ease and in control of their environment, experiencing low levels of anxiety and stress. This is a state of mental security, and produces regular happiness and minimizes unhappiness. When we step outside of our comfort zone, we are taking a risk and opening ourselves up to the possibility of stress and discomfort, where we are not sure what will happen and how we will react.
Moving just outside of that comfort zone is a zone known as the Optimal anxiety zone, a state where our stresses are slightly higher than normal. In this zone, the elevated levels of stress results in better concentration and focus, and therefore higher level of performance. Healthy stress. Think about how deadlines give you the external motivation to work faster.
Still further outside the comfort zone, is the danger zone where anxiety and stress take over, resulting in mental paralysis and performance drops off sharply.
Hence, optimal anxiety is the sweet spot. This is where challenging yourself can turn in some amazing results.
Be cautious of pushing too hard, as it will push you into the danger zone, inevitably creating a negative result and reinforcing in our minds that challenging yourself is a bad idea. Because we have this natural tendency to return to an anxiety neutral state, it is important how we move out of our comfort zones, not just that we do. In moving out of our comfort zones, we can open ourselves up to new experiences, improved performance and productivity, and have an easier time dealing with change in our personal and professional lives.
How exactly do you break out of your comfort zone? It does not really matter what you do. You could do something different. Or do something you have always wanted to do. You could overcome your feelings of fear of looking foolish by realising that life is not long enough to pretend that we are perfect. Realize that there is really no disadvantage to an expanded horizon. The experience you gained from stepping out of your comfort zone may be life changing, forgettable or even regrettable, but that does not matter in the long run. The objective is that you did it, and you are pushing yourself past the mental blocks that tell you to stay in the comfort zone.
And the benefits of stepping outside the zone will spill over to other aspects of your life and linger long past the experience is over. You will find it easier to push your boundaries further in the future. You will become accustomed to the state of optimal anxiety. Your comfort zone adjusts so that was difficult and anxiety inducing becomes easier as you repeat it.
All this is not to say that you should always live outside of the comfort zone. Instead the comfort zone should be seen as a base of operations, where one can retreat mentally, to process and relax a little. Remember too much stress is toxic but a little bit will help you grow. In an increasingly competitive world, it is the ones who are willing to take risks, step out of their comfort zone and into the discomfort of uncertainty will reap the biggest rewards.
