Hammer Into This Comfort Zone

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

I often come across inspiring stories on the Internet about leaving my comfort zone. "I changed my habits, did what I always feared, and now, I'm on a horse," "Change yourself, your fears will recede, and new opportunities will appear.." and so on..

What if the fears persist or what I wanted so badly is not what I wanted? What if my success story burns out and there is no success at all? What if I move forward without looking back and it leads me nowhere? After all, not all dreams are supposed to come true.

Of course, the idea of getting out of your comfort zone is intertwined with the Yerkes-Dodson law.

What's the point? A little anxiety and discomfort can help you achieve better results. But in everything you need a measure and calculation, you can increase excitement only up to a certain point. As soon as the stress gets too much, productivity drops dramatically. How to determine what level of stress will be beneficial is a difficult question.

Better to start by defining what your comfort zone is. It's one thing to keep yourself from doing what you truly want. It’s quite another to try to change yourself for the sake of something that you don’t really need. There are many situations and actions in life - but do you need them and will they matter to you?

Andy Molinsky believes that not every way out of your comfort zone is, in fact, a way out. You can expand your understanding of this "anomalous zone":

1. the same comfort zone where everything is clear and familiar.

2. "stretch" zone - we are excited because we are doing something new, but this excitement does not interfere with work and productivity.

3. zone of "panic" - when emotional costs exceed the possible result.

You need to act in the stretch zone, and only in it. And if you don't have the strength and energy to get things done, leaving your comfort zone is simply not worth it. Remember, trying new things is not the same as becoming a different person.

So, Molinsky offers a very simple technique that will help you decide whether or not you should leave your comfort zone.

The technique consists of only three questions, if you honestly answer them, the universe will help you decide on further tactics.

The actual questions:

- What is our doomsday scenario? - the worst case scenario, what you fixate on the most, and even the terminator will not help. Example: you need to push a speech in front of a large number of people, you go out and start stuttering, your face turns scarlet, and your vocabulary consists only of parasite words.

- What would be the ideal scenario? - dream, your speech was amazing, you received a standing ovation, you are a genius orator. Stop, this all sounds great, but unrealistic, just like the first scenario. Realize this.

- What does a real-life scenario look like? - you hesitated a couple of times, blushed a little, but overall everything went well. You knew what you were talking about, they were listening to you.

This technique will help you focus on reality, on your real possibilities. Do not shake with anticipation of the day of judgment, but also do not hang in the clouds, being confident in your genius, neglecting preparation.