The illusion of comfort zone

 

Considering different definitions of comfort zone, the definition that I find quite impeccable is: “A comfort zone is a type of mental conditioning that causes a person to create and operate mental boundaries. Such boundaries create an unfounded sense of security”. Like inertia, which is a resistance of any physical body to any change in its state of motion, which may be its speed or direction of motion. A person tends to establish a comfort zone, over a particular activity or thinking of his or her life, and stay within that zone without stepping outside of it. Similar to inertia we tend to feel mental resistance to leave that zone and to change what has been happening within that zone. It is a semblance of boundaries that make us feel comfortable for what we are doing within or in other words an illusion of safety and comfort. Now a quick questionnaire to determine if you ever left your comfort zone, just ask yourself “Have you ever done something that made you nervous”? Your reaction to this question would be “Of course dude! Why did you even ask?” In School speaking before class or any other group activity, asking your crush out, appearing for a job interview or in short any activity that made your nervous, spooked your stomach out to your mouth(Not literally, just imagine because it’s free). Embrace challenges that make us nervous because they are the intimations that you are trying something outside your comfort zone.

 

Why does being inside comfort zone feels secure and comfortable? Indolence, yes somewhat but predominantly because it let us maintain low anxiety, and less stress. Ever noticed how good it feels doing nothing all day during weekends and holidays. Situation becomes little arduous during such days when you suddenly remember that there is a gigantic pile of dirty laundry to be done, buried in the darkest corner of your cupboard. This situation always may not be the case with you, it was for illustration but you get the point right? Just like strengths and weakness that everyone possess, everyone has something that they are not that good at and wish to be good at it. Everyone has something in which they are adventurous, someone may like to visit places, and some are daredevils but they still have something in them that needs improvements. It is indeed difficult to be good in something they are not because one needs to challenge and elevate their comfort zone to a higher marking than current. For a person, driving speed of 30-70 kmph for his vehicle would be will be normal because he is comfortable driving in that range, while for a professional racer it would be 100-300 kmph. Now suppose someone aspire to become a professional racer he have to train himself to feel comfortable in speed range above normal range of 30-70 kmph, that is break through his comfort zone.  If you believe that you are not getting time in your weekly schedule to do something other than your daily routine work, you might already be trapped in the innermost chambers of your comfort zone.

 

Why it is important to move out of comfort zone? Well even if don’t want to, situations will arise that will force you to. For example want to have a fit body then you have to get out of your comfortable eat-work-sleep schedule and hit the gym regularly. We live in a very competitive world, races are won with difference of milli-seconds, and tournaments are lost by 1 or 2 points. There so much pressure on us to be in community of best of the bests. One has to constantly work on self-improvements which would require you to constantly challenge your comfort zone and move out of it. Or else you would be left behind in the race, which even if you don’t care or admit affects you. Have a thought, had Usain Bolt be the fastest man on earth if he had an attitude like, “I have a footspeed of 12.42m/s, that’s more than enough and I no longer need practice and training”. Or had our master blaster Sachin Tendulkar be called so had he thought that I have so many centuries in my name and I play better than most players out there, I do not practice or improvements. I bet when these two renowned athletes wake up each morning they challenge themselves to do better than they can did yesterday, or else they won’t have been masters in their field. If you want something you don’t already have, you have to do something you haven’t already done.

 

However there are chances that we unknowingly or inadvertently are never able to leave our comfort zone. Reason is be quite straightforward which is due to fear of possible outcomes that may result from your trying to. For example for an aspiring speaker or writer, he will sense apprehension whenever he tries speaking or writing because of how his audience will react. Or sometimes reason may be purely out of ignorance or callous attitude towards self, which make oneself think that they are way better than others and they don’t need any improvement in themselves.

 

How to move out of your comfort zone? Well you can try below step to start with:

• Try new thing without thinking much about its benefits (for example you can try painting, gardening or writing blogs, but you are particularly intrigued with painting you should continue with it).
• Create a list of things you always wanted to do (And off-course you need a simple plan to execute it as well, for example reading every night to improve English. Implementation is as important part of the equation as is plan).
• Don’t be afraid to ask someone for help, I know everyone cannot be a genuine help but if you ask 5 people, I guess at least one of them surely would give something that might be worth more than a penny.
• Do your improvements in small steps: Don’t start running, start from baby steps to learn something new or improving some skill.
• Trust yourself like Steve jobs said “dots will connect somehow in future”. Invest in your future. According to his biography he used to take calligraphy classes out of interest, in future that knowledge became foundation for Apple devices which features beautiful graphics and fonts.
• Fuel your motivation. Have a role model.
• Every action begins from an idea. So you need to start with the idea of leaving your comfort zone. Like they say your thought makes what you are.

I reiterate, in order to step outside their comfort zone, a person must experiment with new and different behaviours, and then experience the new and different responses that occur within their environment.

 

Now as a part of precautionary conclusion, going too far may also be futile. For example in order to catch a train at some speed you do need to run at same speed in order to catch it (I think you got my intended meaning, I by no way mean catching a running bullet train. The train has to in speed which is about to leave the platform). And have a timeout whenever you feel like you spent too much outside your zone because it causes anxiety and frustration which is something to be avoided. Work within your limitation of body and mind.

Have a good day.