You may NOT need to leave the Comfort Zone
Consider expanding it from the inside
We have been hearing for years these two words put together as a symbol of resignation, stagnation and even failure. However, when you talk about ‘comfort’ alone it has nothing to do with those negative aspects by itself.
The ‘Comfort Zone’ is a trending concept originated to boost people into enterprising, growing and developing their career and their lifestyles. It has been continuously repeated that we must extend our horizons out of our usual environment to discover new opportunities. Staying safe, still and cautious make the people never reach the success. At least, that is what we have commonly heard, and there is actually some truth in this thinking.
Despite that, the path for personal and professional success is not only determined by rejecting your habits and leaving your stability. Actually, what most of us really seek in life is self-accomplishment, and that is something one can find through different means like money, peace, luxury, happiness, love or fame. Of course, basic necessities come first.
Why do you think of leaving your Comfort Zone?
The need of leaving your Comfort Zone is a statement of your seeking for an improvement. If you consider leaving it, then your current means for reaching self-accomplishment are not appropriate or not good enough. You need more money, you need true peace, or you feel that you can be happier elsewhere. It is clear that the idea of improvement is always present in the human thinking, and personal development may never end.
But there is something more. If you want to leave your Comfort Zone, we can assume that there is a Comfort Zone. And here we come back to the meaning of comfort: “a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint”, according to Google. It does not sound bad, does it?
In the end, the Comfort Zone is nothing but a psychological state in which we feel to have control over our environment. We feel secure, and levels of anxiety and stress are low. When you are in your Comfort Zone your role, relationships and tasks are familiar to you. However, this is precisely the barrier for your improvement: you are not taking any risk in your life, in the means of possible.
Is it necessary to leave the Comfort Zone to achieve an improvement?
The answer to this question is not simple. Sometimes yes, it is necessary. For some steps in your life, you may need to embrace insecurity and be willing to assume some risks.
However, this is not the case in many other situations. Having your own Comfort Zone means that there is a certain skill set, a certain environment and a certain role in which you are strong. So pay attention to this:
You are living a routine in which your anxiety has been reduced to the minimum because you adapted yourself to the surrounding conditions and polished the skills required to live in the best way possible.
And this is actually not bad. The only problem is that it is probably not enough. So here you have a clear option, which is getting out of that mental zone and trying something new. You may be in that moment of your life in which you can choose changing your job, quitting your studies to work, moving abroad, studying something new, joining the gym, or even joining a different creed. Of course, all of these options sound quite sudden and experts will recommend you to make things step by step. But the final result is the same: you will have to face the moment of changing your habits.
But there is a second path. As in any other investment field, there is the risky way and the slow way. And, in my opinion, the risky way is the option for those who have nothing to lose. But we have already seen that the Comfort Zone implies the existence of something positive in your life, so you will probably have things to lose even when the price can be much higher.
The other way: do not leave it, expand it
The Comfort Zone has been typically explained as something fixed around us, a separated space of the area that contains everything we want. We can imagine it as something like this:
For this situation, the classical answer for reaching the goods has been the following one:
But we can identify two risks on this image: the first is that you are leaving behind your secure space to venture into the unknown. The second is that the ‘magical’ zone you want to reach, may not be accessible to you.
Now, we can have a look of the second way: the slow path, the low-risk investing.
I would like you to remember this set of drawings, because they contain the key concept of the article, beyond the words.
To follow this second path, you must have clear some concepts:
- The Comfort Zone is not bad by itself.
- The Comfort Zone is not a static and immovable place. You can work to make it have the shape and size you prefer.
- Adapting your environment to enter you Comfort Zone can be a slow and hard process. However, your risks and anxiety levels are lower and it implies some quality of life.
- Choosing the slow path must never be an excuse to be idle. If you do not work hard, you will never reach your rewards.
- There is a risky way and a slow way, but there is not an easy way.
How do I actually expand my Comfort Zone?
The first key concept is organizing your time. If you want to acquire new skills, discover new opportunities or new places without leaving your habits, you will need to schedule your life carefully. You do not want to leave your habits behind, so you will need to make a place for new things in your life. Consider reading about the personal and professional organization, and you will find many interesting ways to work on this.
The second is the identification of your objectives, and those impediments to reaching them. Take some time to analyze it. Observe your own life, your environment, your possibilities. What is separating you from success? If the path is too long, identify shorter objectives. Work for something smaller, and make it bigger step by step.
The last main idea is making use of your strengths. Make use of your skills, your hobbies, your friends or contacts. Networking is an important tool for getting access to new experiences, and I will write a dedicated article about it soon. You do not need to be the best at something, nor the most popular and outgoing person in your surroundings. You should just keep polishing your habits, the same habits you already have, to climb higher.
When you find some free time, you can fill it with new experiences. You can take courses, learn languages, find places to meet new people. But you do not need to sacrifice anything you already have: you will have the certainty that you are not putting anything at risk.
In case you want to launch a project, like creating a startup, you will probably know already that there are two important factors to take into account: time and money. Because of that, you do not need to leave your job or acting in secret so that the people do not steal your ideas. You only need to save money, have patience and find the perfect partners and contracts so that others can contribute with their time while you do it with your money and your free time. No more than your free time, no more than the money you saved and you did not need to spend. And yes, it may take years, so always have it in mind.
Conclusions
This article shows a brief introduction to the concept of “Comfort Zone” and identifies two possible ways of acting to reach success out of it. Even when we usually hear about the risky one, which is leaving your Comfort Zone, I wrote an introduction to the idea of working to expand your Comfort Zone from the inside. It is the slow and more secure way.
Both solutions can be valid, but it will always depend on the risks you can take. However, it is important to notice that the Comfort Zone is not bad, but its existence reveals positive aspects of your current life. You can work to make use of these aspects, your strengths, to improve your conditions.
Innovation is always spinning forward. Just like a Drill.
