Learning How to Leave Your Comfort Zone and Enter Your Growth Zone requires knowledge of what a comfort zone is. Literally, the comfort zone is a psychological condition in which an individual feels at ease because they’re not being tested. Inside one’s comfort zone, he doesn’t engage in new experiences. In other words, he doesn’t take on any challenge when he is inside his comfort zone. There is no recognized boundary called the comfort zone that is common to everyone. Each person has their comfort zone.
This article examines the alterations in thought required to go outside the comfort and into personal growth. Along the process, we’ll discuss practical resources, strategies, and illustrations to make stepping outside your comfort zone as profitable as possible.
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What happens inside a comfort zone?
The term’ comfort zone’ was coined by management thinker Judith Bardwick in 1991. When people only participate in activities that are familiar or that make them feel “in control” of their environment, that is a comfort zone. The reason people stay in their comfort zones is to avoid stress, the feeling of anxiety and pain. For them, anything outside their comfort zone creates uncertainty, leading to anxiety.
People feel safe, comfortable, and happy as long as they remain in their comfort zones. Nothing happens against their will and expectation once they are shielded inside this frame. However, as comfortable as it seems, this safe scope keeps people from personal growth and doing their desired things. Therefore, people need the courage to leave their comfort zone and explore new things. In other words, leaving your comfort zone leads to a growth zone where you are exposed to challenges.
What is the Growth Zone?
The growth zone is the ultimate zone after several zones prevail after the comfort zone. It illustrates how we must be challenged to learn effectively. Yet the pressure must be exactly right: if it’s not applied, we won’t be motivated to leave our comfort zone, and if it’s applied too vigorously, we’ll panic and get overwhelmed. Learning is constrained in both scenarios. Instead, we must strive for the Learning Zone, the “sweet spot.”
A new comfort zone is developed after a learning phase, increasing one’s capacity to achieve even greater heights. Being in the growth zone is what it means to be like this.
Comfort zone
You will feel safe and in control.
Fear zone
Here, you will feel a lack of confidence and may want to find excuses. Often you are affected by others’ opinions.
Learning zone
Once you step outside the fear zone, you learn to deal with challenges and problems coming your way. Then you start acquiring new skills to combat those challenges. This zone is an attempt to extend the comfort zone.
Growth zone
The growth zone is an advanced zone where you find the purpose of doing things and start to live the dream. Not limited to that, you start setting up new goals.
Why Should You Leave Your Comfort Zone and Enter Your Growth Zone?
Everything is predictable in your comfort zone, making you feel safe. For instance, you know correctly what to expect when you take the same route to work daily. When you plan to leave or expand your comfort zone, you encounter uncertainty. According to Psychology, uncertainty equals danger, which makes you afraid.
So even when you know you have outgrown your comfort zone of yours, fear holds you back from moving forward. For instance, you may hesitate to pursue a different career path because of a fear of failure. Even if we want to grow, the pull of the comfort zone is strong. Because it’s safe and easy, it’s natural for people to want to stay there. Yet staying there also means never moving forward and growing.
An intriguing connection between performance and anxiety was discovered by psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson in 1908 through an experiment. They found that giving mice little electrical shocks increased their motivation to complete a maze. When the shocks grew too intense, the mice hid in fear. The Yerkes-Dodson Law states that performance increases to a point, but only to an appropriate amount of strain or anxiety. The contrary is true; excessive pressure makes a person panic.
The same thing might happen if you push yourself far beyond your comfort zone. You can retreat further into your comfort zone by engaging in activities that significantly increase your anxiety. The best strategy for stepping outside your comfort zone is to start and proceed gradually until you find the optimal level of stress.
How to Leave Your Comfort Zone and Enter Your Growth Zone
You can follow these activities as a person aspiring to exceed the boundaries and leave your comfort zone.
- Take on a fitness challenge
- Change up your routine
- Expand your professional skill set
- Choose fear, and face it
- Travel somewhere new
- Do something you’ve always wanted to do
To leave your comfort zone and enter the fear zone requires guts. Improving upon prior experiences with a clear route map is possible. This might make you feel anxious. But if you persist long enough, you’ll enter the learning zone, where you’ll pick up new abilities and find creative solutions to problems.
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