Getting out of COMFORT ZONE and GROWING

“When you are out of your comfort zone, you are already growing by default”.

The most scientific explanation of what a comfort zone is relates it to anxiety levels. Comfort zones are called comfort zones because it’s where you feel safe and comfortable. When you stay in an area of comfort, you subject yourself to things you have become accustomed to – which leads to little or no growth as their no incentive for going an extra mile. Imagine something you do all the time, like cooking dinner or commuting to work, or watching TV. Everyday activities that you’re used to won’t make you feel anxious and uneasy, so they’re part of your comfort zone.

On the other hand, if you move beyond that area of comfort, even by a bit, you start facing things which you are not exposed to before. This new context and new stimuli trigger off a reprocessing process in your mind as you adapt to handle them. This means ‘GROWTH’.

A study of mice from 1908 showed that when a task was very easy, performance increased as anxiety levels rose. When a task was harder, however, increased anxiety only helped to a point—after a certain threshold, the combination of a difficult task and high anxiety made performance drop.

The comfort zone is often illustrated in this image, where the comfort zone extends into a learning zone but eventually leads to a panic zone, where anxiety is too high. We can use this illustration to understand the results of the mouse experiment.

Trying new things takes energy, so when we’re feeling tired or flat, we’re more likely to lean on old habits than take a new risk.

Here are some of the benefits of leaving your comfort zone and trying things that raise your anxiety levels just a bit:

IT WILL HELP YOU GROW

When mixed with the feeling of success, some anxiety and self-doubt can lead to personal growth. Therefore, outdoor adventures like rock climbing or skydiving can be so exhilarating: personally, they have given me a huge sense of achievement and increased my confidence level in general.

YOUR COMFORT ZONE WILL GROW

With small comfort zone, the things you can do without feeling anxious are less and hence when your workplace demand you to be dynamic you will end up being anxious most of the time missing out on a lot of excitement. Hence, it’s like increasing the aura of doing things. You’ll also be able to enjoy more things in life since familiarity makes us more likely to enjoy something, even if it turned us off at first.

DOING NEW THINGS MOTIVATES US AND HELPS US LEARN

Novelty tends to increase levels of dopamine in the brain, which is part of the brain’s ‘reward center’. Dopamine’s role centers around motivating us to go looking for rewards and novelty increases that urge. The novelty has also been shown to improve memory and increase the possibilities for learning by making our brains more malleable.

If you want to push your comfort zone’s boundaries but you’re not sure where to start, there’s a tool online to measure your comfort zone. How far you want to push your boundaries is totally up to you, and will probably differ depending on what else is going on in your life. The trick seems to be maintaining a healthy balance between security and comfort, and a little novelty and excitement now and then

What are your comfort zones when it comes to your work? Environment? Diet? Sleeping habits? Daily routines? Places you go to? Clothes you wear? People you hang out with? Your goals? How can you change them around just to experience something different? How can you push yourself to an uncomfortable zone so you can grow? The more uncomfortable you feel about something, the more it means you are growing, as it will create an urge in you to change the present situations, which ultimately leads to your Growth ‘n’ Success.

So, my dear friends, come out of your respective comfortable zones and start leaping towards your ‘Path of GLORY’.