Comfort kills potential more than skill.
If you choose to play life on easy mode most of the time, you are probably not growing or evolving into a better version of yourself.
If you can’t rise above your comfort zone, you will miss out on so many experiences life has to offer.
The phrase ‘comfort zone’ was coined by Judith Bardwick.
She explains in her book, Danger in the Comfort Zone:
“The comfort zone is a behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk.”
Your easy zone is often those places where you’re at your best and those places where you feel the most at ease.
And while it can be a great thing to have a place where you can recharge and replenish your mental energy, there are times when it’s good to step out of it and challenge yourself.
Living life on easy mode is a choice many people have made. It’s hard to change, so people stick to what they know, even though the behaviours don’t serve them or help them achieve their goals.
“In reality, the process of moving from the comfort zone to a growth zone may not be linear. Peaks, troughs, and plateaus often complicate the journey,” writes Oliver Page, M.D.
The longer you live without new or improved ways to live, learning new skills or upgrading your mindset about life and living it, the easier it is to get stuck.
Your safe place can quickly become your biggest obstacle. It stops you from trying new things or exposing yourself to new challenges.
Life in the easy mode is doing the same comfortable things repeatedly but expecting a different result.
Playing life in the easy mode all the time is an insult to your potential.
“Everyone has a comfort zone. Worth considering: How hard (and how often) are you willing to work to get out of it?” says Seth Godin.
The life you want is outside your comfort zone: you have to come out to work for it. If you are not proud of your present life, you can fix it.
Start life in growth mode by:
Learn a new skill, make better connections, read a book on an entirely new topic, take a course unrelated to your present job but can improve your skill, teach what you know on a public platform, create art (you could learn how to paint) or try a new form of exercise.
There are dozens of things you could do to stack better skills for life or enjoy life in a completely different way. What you choose to do is entirely up to you.
New challenges have brain benefits. A new task, experience, event, activity or hobby will make you think and improve your cognition process.
“If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old.” Peter Drucker once said. It’s not as simple as that, though, especially for people who are afraid of change.
But if you want anything bad enough, you will find a reason to disrupt your easy mode lifestyle. Otherwise, you will find an excuse to stay where you are.
When you are too comfortable, the desire to discover or find something new or better becomes daunting, so you postpone a better life until it’s too late. In retrospect, people regret their past inactions.
Living in our comfort zone is safe, but just because it’s safe doesn’t mean that it’s always right or best for us.
In growth mode, you increase your chances of living life to the fullest
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” — Neale Donald Walsch
We all have our own unique comfort zones. It can be hard to get out of your comfort zone because it means stepping outside of the things that are easy for you, doing something different, and having to face your fears.
However, learning how to get out of your comfort zone will allow you to expand your horizons and open up new opportunities in life.
The world is full of potential: amazing experiences, new knowledge and perspectives. By staying in your comfort zone you’ll never be able to experience these things.
Whether you’re scared or anxious or just feel like you don’t have enough time, it pays to figure out what might be holding you back.
Facing your fears is the only way to improve your circumstances.
When you challenge yourself more often, you grow in confidence and fear tends to minimise.
Switching from “easy mode” to “growth mode” won’t come easy.
You will feel like giving up. But it’s the only way to become a much better version of yourself. If your mind wants to wander off, give it a positive destination to wander to and keep moving.
Real growth happens outside your “easy mode”.
All the time you are not growing and investing in great life experiences, you are literally putting your best life on hold.
Start small and make incremental progress. It’s the only way to get going and make it a habit. You don’t have to throw your entire routine out the window to embrace “growth mode”.
And when you start, think of fear or anxiety as “growth stress”: view them as the way forward to keep moving.
Reframe the fear of stepping outside your safe bubble. Think of every step you take as an opportunity to make your life better.
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This post was previously published on Thomas Oppong’s blog.
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