Many of us have heard of the idea of the “comfort zone” as it relates to performance management. As creatures of habit and comfort, the idea here is that humans trend towards an equilibrium steady-state in which our habits become routine, we know what to expect, and we’re very good at what we do. Things are comfortable.
Many are quite content living inside this zone and have no interest in finding out what’s on the other side. If that’s you, more power to you. You can probably stop reading here.
Not you? I suspected as much.
I’m talking to those of you who strive to push boundaries, blaze trails, and forge new neural paths in your brain every day. Or maybe you don’t yet, but you’re ready now. To the ones with an energetic calling in the center of your chest that speaks out, “You are more.”
Sometimes becoming more of Who You Are means expanding into the space outside your comfort zone. And that can be uncomfortable.
In A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle talks about aligning with the evolutionary impulse of the Universe. Poetic, right. The universe itself is alive and expanding. When I close my eyes and think these words, I can feel it. Each living organism is synced and one with this impulse. This is our natural state.
When thoughts and feelings and resistance get out of the way, life flows with ease. The only task at hand then becomes to act on the inspired impulse.
But wait. We’re humans. We have thoughts and egos that keep us safe. We’ve built sturdy comfort zones that protect us from scary things like inspired impulses. You’re asking me to do what?! Act on an impulse? What does that even mean? No way. Not doing it.
The comfort zone is the great enemy to creativity; moving beyond it necessitates intuition, which in turn configures new perspectives and conquers fears.
Dan Stevens
I love this quote because Stevens speaks to intuition. That innate truth meter we’re born with. How cool is it to know that we are each born with an ability to navigate life, broaden our perspectives, and conquer fear.
But let’s be honest. At some point along the way, each of us has either ignored or forgotten this. When this happens, it can be hard to maintain a safe distance from the comfort zone — if we leave it at all.
Watch Out for the Danger Zone
There are a few models that depict the Comfort Zone encircled by the Performance Zone (where we want to be), which is encircled by the Danger Zone (where we don’t want to be). Inside the danger zone, stress levels exceed the ability to cope. The limits of healthy stress are exceeded.
In From Comfort Zone to Performance Management, management theorist, Alasdair White, talks about how to use stress as a tool to enhance performance. He says that both motivation and anxiety are subsets of stress and, when applied correctly, can help get us where we want to go.
The right amount of stress provides that nudge outside the comfort zone towards growth and enhanced performance. But too much stress can be more of a shove into paralysis, mental breakdown, or psychotic break; all symptoms of the danger zone. Not what we’re going for.
Expanding into the space outside your comfort zone also does not mean adopting an extremist mindset. An extremist leap — taking up skydiving, quitting your job, or moving to Siberia, for example — is generally not the way to go about testing your coping skills.
Extremism is usually a response to fear, not an intuitive or inspired impulse.
Get Comfortable with the Space Outside your Comfort Zone
I like the model that depicts four stages to moving from Comfort Zone to the optimal Performance Zone, and that’s through Fear and Learning. It goes like this:
Comfort Zone → Fear Zone → Learning Zone → Performance Zone.
I’ve spent a lot of time in the Fear and Learning Zones lately. Lots of spinning. Lots of thinking. Lots of growth. And what I’ve realized — for better or for worse — is that committing to myself means committing to constant expansion. Constant expansion means getting comfortable with that perpetual space just outside my comfort zone.
What does that space look like?
It’s not so far that I can’t cope or believe my dreams are attainable.
It’s not so close that it doesn’t scare me.
It feels new — the perfect balance of exciting and fear; motivation and anxiety.
Some days, I write a blog post and completely hate it (like this past Sunday) — trying to be something I’m not. Other days, I sit down, rewrite the entire thing, and it flows with ease (kind of like today).
Between my intuition, my ego, my thoughts, and the evolutionary impulse of the universe, this is one wild ride — coloring in and out of the lines of my ever-expanding comfort zone.
Give it a try. I dare you.