How To Leave Any Comfort Zone And Enter Your Growth Zone
Being comfortable is not always the best solution to your life issues
As to be clear on what we’re talking about, I’ll tell you this: I’m perfectly fine in my comfort zone. I struggled a lot to find mine and don’t want to leave it. I also know it is a very subjective matter and not useful to keep if you want to move on and grow.
So that the article will point to the necessity of a change in your status quo, if you need to, and try to give you hints on how to enter your growth mentality. No specific age is required.
Anxiety-neutral= no risk
“The comfort zone is a behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk.” (Judith Bardwick, Danger In The Comfort Zone, 1991)
“What’s wrong with being in such a condition”, you may ask yourself. Nothing. Except for a simple fact.
Within the comfort zone, there isn’t much incentive for anybody to reach new heights of performance.
So the adventure begins in front of a big stimulus, maybe a request from outside (the boss, the partner, the environment) or an impellent desire for something you suddenly feel.
“Too little or too many” are responses leading to a block. Little anxiety will keep you in your comfort zone and well-known boredom. Too much anxiety will determine a panic reaction, subsequent paralysis, and stall progress.
How are you going to react? Usually, you could do the following. In response to anxiety-provoking stimuli, the options you have consist of the fight (meet the challenge), flight (run away/hide), or freeze (become paralyzed).
Which one will you choose to enter your growth zone?
Entering the growth zone
To enter the growth zone you’ll have to pass through a couple of steps.
- The FEAR ZONE. This is quite difficult as you won’t probably have any references from the past to build on, and you may feel lost. Anxiety could reach high picks and you may want to give up.
If you are persistent enough, or resilient, you’ll be able to go to the next step.
2. The LEARNING ZONE. This is when you learn new skills, study a lot, and acquire the ability to deal with new challenges successfully.
After a learning period, a new comfort zone is created, expanding your capacity to reach even greater heights. This is what it means to be in the growth zone. Follow the embedded link to have some more hints on the benefits of entering your growth zone.
3 Tips to Reach Your Growth Zone
- ‘Eustress’ or ‘positive stress’
The idea of ‘eustress’ or ‘positive stress’ will help you handle better the new situation you’re going to meet. It’s just a matter of different labeling.
Use the idea of positive stress to exit your comfort zone. In other words, this means that positive stress creates the same response as anxiety whenever you feel excited about something ( get through a public speech, or go on a romantic date). But consider that eustress is positive stress, while stress and anxiety, well you know what they are.
2. Neuroplasticity
You need to know what neuroplasticity can do for you. I mean, we are stuck, the majority of us, on limited performances of our brains.
The modern concepts about neuroplasticity teach us, on the contrary, that we can reach many more changes through our brains than we would ever suspect.
Keep this in mind whenever you want to get out of your comfort zone: your brain is your good company!
3. Taking small steps
While going from one point to another doesn’t necessarily require a big jump.
You can enter your growth zone by committing to small steps and feel at ease when you go for bigger ones. The process can go on smoothly.
As a personal example, my university organization of preparing exams went through small, controllable steps of daily frames. You can’t read 100 pages a day if you haven’t tried reading 10 before.
My actual growth zone
As regards my recent challenge about SEO, I can tell you I haven’t yet come to the first part of my program and I’m already stuck.
I was counting on my good health when I decided to get all in through the Seo learning curve (at least as I intend it), and I suddenly got caught by the worst flu I’ve had in a few years.
I fear I won’t be able to get to the end of it, but the only real possible limit is that I’ll be late on my programmed plan. I accept it, and I hope you will, too. I’ve entered my growth zone and I won’t quit for the flu.
Conclusion
Being and remaining in your comfort zone is cool. Not cool enough if you want to evolve or need to cope with new challenges in life.
Be courageous. Enter your GROWTH ZONE.
By the way, which is the growth zone you’re entering now or you’re planning to reach soon? Let me know in the comments.
If you like what I write, consider subscribing to my e-mail list to be promptly advised when I publish a new article.
