Learning Zone VS Performance Zone

Have you seen this great TED Talk about how to improve? I found it fantastic!

In his talk, Eduardo Briceño distinguishes between the “Learning Zone” and the “Performance Zone”.

The performance zone is the main part of our work. It’s where we apply our skills, execute, try to minimize mistakes and achieve our best results.

The learning zone on the other hand is all about improvement. We focus on what we don’t know, experiment, learn and make mistakes in a low-risk setting, so we can learn from them and get better.

Don’t just do, do, do.

The problem why many people don’t improve, as soon as they have reached a certain level, is that they spend all of their time in their performance zone. We perform, perform, perform… and don’t reflect on it or follow activities designed for improvement.

Eduardo Briceño suggests that we take the time to switch between the two zones. Let us design learning environments to improve our skills and implement learning zones in our work and life.

Then, we can perform better and achieve even greater results… in a continuous cycle of alternating learning and performing.