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Innovation & Creativity

On the Road to Success...
Beware the Comfort Zone!

Not everyone wants to be a thrill-seeker or daredevil, but everyone should be prepared to push the boundaries if they don’t want to become trapped in their comfort zone. By aiming to improve yourself with calculated risks, you’ll extend your horizons and improve your life.

By N L Nunez

Like a caged bird, those who operate fully within the confines of their comfort zone are generally living in a prison. The comfort zone is defined as a mental state in which neither anxiety nor challenge is felt. It is an emotionally neutral place, one that is all too familiar. Because of its familiarity, people feel at home within their comfort zone. They know what to expect and what to avoid. No action takes them by surprise, and they steer clear from all forms of perceived threats. It is a place that takes on the façade of satisfaction, and therein lays the trap.

The appeal of staying inside of your comfort zone is strong because of our natural tendency to avoid pain and seek pleasure. It is also a well-known fact that anything that catches us unawares, anything that is considered foreign territory, brings with it a fair amount of anxiety. Anxiety is an emotion that is unpleasant to bear. Unfortunately, going outside our comfort zone means trying new things, and this involves risk.

The concept of risk is the direct opposite of the comfort zone. When people risk, they deliberately stray outside their comfort zone and into uncharted territory. The amount of anxiety felt is directly proportional to the distance a person travels outside the comfort zone. In other words, it is proportional to the amount of risk involved. For example, making plans to go out to a networking event would pose a fair amount of anxiety for an introvert, and deciding to quit a secure but unfulfilling job in order to pursue one’s passion in life creates an even greater amount of anxiety because of the bigger risk. It is, therefore, good advice to push ourselves just a little beyond our comfort zone where the amount of anxiety is tolerable and actually heightens our performance. Management theorist Alasdair White calls this zone the “Optimal Performance Zone”, and the place that is a little too over the edge is called the “Danger Zone”. Forging our way outside our comfort zone, while making sure to take risks that are within our capabilities, is a good way to start our pursuit of success and happiness.

There is a beautiful power at work that always rewards people for their efforts. Those who are brave enough to endure temporary discomfort when stepping outside their comfort zone discover a wonderful experience at the end: their comfort zone simply expands. Once a situation outside the comfort zone has been dealt with, the boundary of the comfort zone grows and eventually encompasses the original feared situation. What used to be a place of fear and anxiety is now emotionally neutral, and the person can operate solidly without discomfort when presented with the same situation in the future. This concept of the expanding comfort zone can then be used to our advantage. Frequent risk always extends the zone, and soon the zone becomes large enough that commonly feared situations, which might cause others to crumble and withdraw, pose little threat to the person who dares to risk.

Helen Keller once said that life is either a daring adventure or nothing. She is directly implying about taking risks and grabbing opportunities that are beyond our normal routine. Those who choose to disregard this advice stay in complete inertia, neither growing nor risking, stuck in a motionless unease yielding a fruitless life. Those who choose to leap over the cliff into potential danger, and those who rebuke a life of false assurances reap huge rewards in the end. Their fate is secured. They have placed themselves above the ranks of the spectators and into the arena reserved for heroes.

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