Get out of your comfort zone!
I was sidelined with lumbago recently and it was probably my own fault as I didn’t really work out a lot. While I was lying in bed, staring at the walls, one of my thoughts was that I needed to get out of my physical comfort zone. And then I ran (well, not literally…) across this:
It doesn’t matter if you have X years of experience. It matters what you’ve done&why&how&how well&what you’ve learned during those years.
— Helena Jeret-Mäe (@HelenaJ_M) 3. März 2015
to which I replied:
@HelenaJ_M fully agree. x years in your comfort/lazy zone without changing/learning/adapting isn’t really what one should strive for
— Christian Kram (@chr_kram) 3. März 2015
And that is something I want to elaborate on here.
First of all there are three psychological stages that need to be looked at:
- Comfort zone
- Performance zone
- Danger zone
The comfort zone is where you feel familiar and in total control of everything. You can perform without any kind of risk. The anxiety level is low and stable. (If you are really on the negative side you could call this the “We always did it like that!”-zone…)
The performance zone is characterized by a higher level of anxiety which naturally leads to a better focus. This is where you can enhance your skills and performance. Back as a basketball coach, this was where I wanted my players to be. But every once in a while there was a player either pushing too hard or too anxious. They were in the danger zone, there was too much anxiety which lowered their performance quickly.
The comfort zone is a zone that can and should be broadened, but this can only happen if you leave it for a while to gain new experiences, input and actually learn new things. These new things will finally be old things that will be part of your comfort zone (or your skill set or knowledge if you prefer these terms). No one asks you to be in your performance zone all the time, but you shouldn’t be in your comfort zone all the time (and we all know that one person that is always there and doesn’t want to leave…which can be alright, but don’t block others from doing it by things like boasting about having x years experience…). Staying there can actually mean degeneration if the circumstances change: even if you were the best lamplighter ever, your skills wouldn’t be needed anymore after the advent of electric lights and light switches (granted, quite extreme example, but I didn’t want to include my lack of workout here again…).
I am a firm believer that intrinsic motivation beats external motivation anytime, so go ahead, get out of your comfort zone!
