When You Should Stay Right Inside Your Comfort Zone
Andy Molinsky
Organizational & Cross-Cultural Psychologist at Brandeis; 3x Book Author: Global Dexterity, Reach, Forging Bonds in a Global Workforce
If you've ever done an internet search on the term comfort zone, you'll find statements like this:
Life only begins at the edge of your comfort zone!
Nothing good ever grew in a comfort zone.
If you're not outside your comfort zone, you're not learning anything.
In other words, comfort zones a really bad rap. But is it really true that nothing good ever comes from being in your comfort zone? And that you need to step outside your comfort zone to do or learn anything? From the research I conducted for my book Reach, I don't necessarily think that this is the case. And here's why:
1. If everything were outside your comfort zone, you'd likely be overwhelmed (and ineffective). You need focus, energy, and attention to grow and develop successfully. And if you're stretching in every possible direction - you won't have what you need to succeed and will likely suffer from poor performance. Instead, pick a few "stretch" activities at a time to focus on. And balance these with other tasks you're comfortable and competent at, and then allocate in a sensible way how you dedicate your time and energy.
2. Timing matters. Many of us have busy personal lives outside of work. So, it's essential to consider this too when considering something outside your comfort zone. If you're expecting twins, considering an addition to your house, or have an ailing parent, it might be best to stay right inside your comfort zone in other areas of your life until things settle down.
3. Consider your own personal threshold. Some people thrive on being outside their comfort zones? And others don't. And then some people are in the middle. Consider where you are on this continuum and then recognize how much you can handle. Don't avoid things outside your comfort zone out of fear, but also know yourself and when something is simply too much for you to handle.
In the end, there's no magic recipe for determining when to stretch outside your comfort zone, but there are key things to consider - the most important of which is to know yourself and what works for you.
Visit here to receive my free guide to 10 cultural codes from around the world, and here for my very best tips on stepping outside your comfort zone at work.
Andy Molinsky is the author of Reach and Global Dexterity.
Originally published at Inc.com.
Pertemps Network Group, passionate agency worker.
6 年I will be in my comfort zone until I'm fully retired.No one's going to budge me??
HR Professional
6 年Totally agree with this! Thanks for posting!!!
Business Development Manager
7 年I really like this post Andy Molinsky It's so important that we trade useful experiences, ideas and skills. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. Here is something I grabbed recently that is helping a lot of us entrepreneurs. It's a really powerful book, broke through 43 countries and is still going strong. Guy teaches CEOs how to triple their sales in 18 months as well as get into the best state of mind for building a business. Awesome, awesome, awesome...copies were still complimentary when I last looked but I don't know how long that is going to last - here's the link https://bit.ly/2u2KPgW Enjoy and do let me know if you benefited from it!
Senior Manager Innovation & Delivery | Driving Strategic Technology Solutions
7 年Thanks for providing such a great post as always. Enjoyed it!
VP Membership, PMI Southern Caribbean Chapter. Loves new challenges, networking, continuous improvement
7 年Great article. For me, stepping out of my comfort zone from time to time has given me a renewed sense of accomplishment and in turn, has proven to be self-motivating.