Do to achieve comfort. Leaving your comfort zone: why it is difficult but necessary

The popular trend about leaving your comfort zone can cause a lot of trouble for an unprepared person. Is it worth sharply breaking your stereotypes? How to get out of your comfort zone with minimal losses?

What is a comfort zone?

Comfort zone is a person’s habitual and comfortable state of mind. It is caused by established habits, stereotypes of thinking and behavior. It is a comfortable existence in which a person feels safe, when there is no motivation to act or make an effort.

A comfort zone is a certain stage that a person has achieved with the help of his knowledge and actions. He has no problems with housing or work. He is more or less satisfied with his financial wealth. That is, the basic needs are satisfied:

hunger and thirst;
safety, lack of fear;
confidence, reliability;
sexual satisfaction.

A person is in a familiar environment, performing familiar actions. The comfort zone is followed by a zone of unusual behavior. Changing stereotypes of thinking and action means leaving your comfort zone. Pictures of familiar life are replaced by new scenery.

Only after a person consciously decides to leave his comfort zone does he try to change the stereotype of behavior and thinking. Only then does the question arise: “How to get out of your comfort zone?” A person independently decides to change habits and bears full responsibility for his subsequent actions.

Leaving your comfort zone

There are 2 ways to get out of your comfort zone.

First- suddenly changed conditions, circumstances. There may be economic crises when a person loses everything and starts life from scratch. Prison or the army is also a way out of your comfort zone into an unknown environment. Serious illness when long time have to be carried out on hospital bed, change the usual way of life. Losing a job or housing forces a person to go in an unusual direction, to look for ways to solve the problem.

Second- a conscious decision to leave the comfort zone. This is the softest path when you have the opportunity to change something in life on your own. The moment a person decides that it is time to step out of his comfort zone, he may take actions that may later lead to personal or career growth. Here one should take into account a person’s energy potential, his age and the goals that he sets for himself.

The Secret Dangers of the Comfort Zone

How to get out of your comfort zone? Why do you need to get out of it? The comfort zone brings a lack of motivation, daily mechanical performance of duties, and routine. Curiosity helps to expand the boundaries of known existence. The law of deferred life forces us to indulge in the illusion that the best is only ahead.

It is necessary to abandon false misconceptions. Start living according to the “here and now” principle. A habitual existence can subsequently lead to the realization that life has passed, and there is nothing more to strive for. Therefore, each person decides for himself whether it is worth leaving his usual state.

Why leave your comfort zone?

A person who constantly experiences unusual stress or finds himself in unusual situations quickly adapts to new living conditions. In order not to find yourself on the sidelines of life, pulled out of your comfort zone by blows of fate or unforeseen crises, you can prepare your psyche and make it flexible.

It is believed that leaving the comfort zone is the only path to development. At the stage of growing up, this path is the only correct one. But later, when a person has already matured as a person, the path of development can be carried out without leaving the comfort zone. So is it necessary to change the usual environment?

The comfort zone makes a person think that everything is under his control. Fixation in a certain state prevents the individual from solving the problems that exist at this stage.

For example, you have and want a two-story house. Staying in your comfort zone will not solve this problem. It is necessary to take no habitual actions, which will help resolve the issue, and the person will reach a new stage.

Then other problems await him, which should also be solved, pushing the boundaries of a new comfortable zone. Such movement forward, towards new goals and objectives, can ensure human development. It may not necessarily be material assets. Spiritual development is not as simple as it seems at first glance. Overcoming difficulties in charitable affairs is no less difficult and sometimes requires greater commitment.

To get out of your comfort zone, you should provide yourself with external and internal resources. These are energy, focus, health, availability of time, stable income.

The mental component of leaving your comfort zone

Change brings a way out of your comfort zone. Stress, internal resistance, self-deception are the main techniques that help the body return to its previous, comfortable state.

If we take the natural maturation of a person, then the growth of personality, the acquisition of experience and knowledge go through crises. This is a crisis of 1 year, 3 years, 7 years, crisis adolescence. Such milestones of growing up are the brightest and most indicative. But they all lead to expanding your comfort zone. A child's curiosity pushes him to overcome difficulties. Thanks to this, the stage of personality formation begins.

Having become older, having a job, family, housing, a person gets rid of the need to achieve anything. Moreover, in some cases, if it is impossible to get what he intended, he psychologically tries to devalue the thing or interpersonal relationships.

For example, you want to buy washing machine, but no extra money. Then the person, not wanting to leave his comfort zone, tries to devalue it (a lot of water or powder is wasted, it makes noise or takes up a lot of space, only lazy people wash clothes in the machine).

Self-deception, devaluation, fear, laziness return a person to his usual comfortable state. Limitation is growing, inspired by the law of deferred life. But hopes that everything is still ahead and a lot can be achieved most often turn out to be fantasies.

Narrowing your comfort zone

Narrowing your comfort zone indicates a gradual process. This is the case when necessary things become unnecessary. The most vivid examples narrowing the comfort zone - alcoholism, drug addiction. The entire existence of a person comes down to a necessary mental state. The absence of habitual intoxication leads to aggression, unpredictable actions, and suicide.

As your comfort zone narrows, work, home, and family gradually become redundant. Relationships and financial independence are devalued. A person is content with little, motivating his inaction with a philosophical view of life.

Expanding your comfort zone

Expanding your comfort zone usually comes down to necessary actions that you don't want to do. The more often a person tries to expand his comfort zone, the more painless and easier this process becomes later.

You should not suddenly change your habits or environment. Under no circumstances should you put your health at risk. Only a gradual, smooth expansion of boundaries will allow the psyche to painlessly adapt to new conditions. How to get out of your comfort zone? Psychology can suggest approximate actions. But to apply them in life or to find your own path of development - a person must decide for himself.

It is necessary to determine the motivation and final result of your actions. Why is it necessary to expand your comfort zone and what should it bring in the future? At the same time, it is important to clearly understand the purposefulness of your actions, have enough time and internal resources for their implementation.

For example, there is a desire to become a director of a bank, but there is no specialization with which to achieve the goal. Therefore, it is important to identify the real problem and deal with it with young age. The ability to expand boundaries, move from one stage to more high level, the habit of not stopping there will help bring a person tangible success in life.

How to get out of your comfort zone?

Numerous psychological trainings help people get rid of fears and complexes. Getting out of their comfort zone is also overcoming difficulties. There are simple solutions that will help you start moving forward. Before you think about getting out of your comfort zone, it is important to realize that such action is necessary.

Change your daily routine (without compromising sleep, rest, nutrition).
Go on a trip (you can find the nearest route to a neighboring city, walk through parks, museums).
Go in for sports (be sure to take into account your health status; a little morning exercise is enough to start with).
Add variety (unscheduled trip to the zoo or exhibition, take a course, try a new dish, or read a new book).
Set a goal and achieve it (don’t chase global achievements; you can go grocery shopping every day for your sick neighbor).

Mistakes when leaving your comfort zone

If a person realizes the need to change his usual way of life, new question. How to get out of your comfort zone and not experience stress? The thing is that a person will definitely feel discomfort when leaving a stereotypical environment. Stress is a natural feeling when leaving your comfort zone. Thanks to it, the body mobilizes and begins preparing for a new stage.

Only by experiencing stress and changing thinking can a person expand his comfort zone. If it remains, the person withdraws into himself. He becomes unable to adequately assess the current situation and clings to the experience of the past. In this case, irreversible mental states are possible.

Therefore, it is worth realistically assessing your capabilities. Cardinal cities, countries, direction of personal growth) is best planned before the age of 35.

Changing habits and lifestyle can undermine a person's health. Internal energy, resources, motivation should be so huge that leaving your comfort zone will lead to an improvement in life. How to exit with minimal losses in mental state?

Praise yourself for the slightest expansion of boundaries, for small achievements.
Don't forget about goals and motivation.
Act gradually, avoiding sudden jumps in activity.
Make a minimum plan and don’t shy away from it.
Meet more often and communicate with new people whose level is higher than yours.

The stability that reigns in the comfort zone is not as good as it seems. This is not only a cozy nest, but also fences with signs. By abandoning the well-worn rut, habitual thinking and proven actions, you will discover a lot of new things.

Comfort zone is a living space in which we feel safe. Usually these are not physical, but psychological boundaries, going beyond which is associated with discomfort.

We build our comfort zone from habits, patterns and stereotypes. We feel comfortable living in the predictable world of our own delusions, but the longer we stay in it, the more difficult it becomes to step outside. Any unusual action frightens and upsets. We forget that in the outside world not only troubles await us, but also exciting adventures, discoveries and unknown sensations.

When we live, as they say, “on autopilot,” this is being in the comfort zone. We mechanically repeat habitual actions and know exactly their results. While the hands are working, the personality is dozing, for whom constant stay in vicious circle usual work - usual rest. Our personality is degrading under such an established regime, and we must not allow this!

Signs of being stuck in your comfort zone

Learning something new is always associated with going beyond your comfort zone. The risk zone is a space where unpredictable events can happen to us, but it is necessary to enter it in order to develop. When we are young, we easily expand our boundaries, but the older we get, the more difficult it is to give up peace.

A healthy person who lingers in the comfort zone for a long time dooms himself to degradation. What signs indicate getting stuck? Let's say you're faced with a new situation or just imagined that you could get into it. If fear becomes your reaction, know that it’s urgently time for you to get out of your favorite place. Remember that reactions to new circumstances can be completely different: curiosity, anxiety, pleasant excitement, even joy. But the fear you experienced is an absolutely destructive feeling, and it clearly indicates a reluctance to leave your comfort zone. Fear makes us hide from the problem, pretend that nothing is happening, and resist change. If we decide to expand our comfort zone, the actions must be completely different - adaptation and acceptance of new circumstances.

Awareness

As Neil Walsh said, real life is outside the comfort zone. The first and most important step on the path to entering true life should be the awareness of being stuck in a deceptive balance. It is important to admit that we are stuck at a dead point and have stopped developing. This happens very often: there is a familiar job, a boring but established relationship, an uncomfortable but own apartment. All this can simultaneously cause dull irritation and remain unchanged, because we are afraid to break through the barrier we have established.

Tight cage

The bear at the zoo was kept in a small cage where he could only take four steps. All day long he walked back and forth, measuring his living space. Visitors said that they felt sorry for the bear and believed that he was dreaming of freedom and space. Then the zoo expanded, and all the animals were moved into spacious green enclosures, and even a swimming pool was built for the unfortunate bear. When the “lucky one” was transported to a new habitat, he continued to count the usual four steps in close transportation. And finally he was released into a large enclosure. The bear looked around, stepped carefully, then again... He still took four steps forward and back... The bars limiting him now existed only in the imagination, but they were in place and turned out to be too strong. The bear is still measuring out his comfort zone, not paying attention to the free space around him.

Awareness of the absence of boundaries is the path to freedom. Let's admit that we have fenced ourselves off - it's time to expand the boundaries. We offer a five-step program for getting out of your comfort zone.

Five steps to liberation

Step one – Statement of the problem

Any path begins with a choice of direction and the first step. We need to decide where we want to come and why. The tasks can be very different. For example, you understand that you have problems with communication, you cannot contact new people and this constrains you. This means that you should get to know each other as often as possible, initiate communication and make it familiar, that is, comfortable.

Step two - What and how much do you want?

The next stage is the specification of the task. Determine the deadline and result. Typically, the result can be measured by numbers, facts, ratings and other clear criteria. This way you can understand how completely you completed the task. You should also outline an action plan.

If you decide that your task is to overcome difficulties in communication, you can focus on the state of confidence when making new acquaintances, but it is impossible to measure this result in numbers. Therefore, we suggest setting a certain number of acquaintances per month. You may not immediately feel comfortable with your new lifestyle, but you will definitely see progress. The trick to this technique is that you will switch from experiencing your own state to working on completing the task and gradually develop the desired skill. Any new skill requires effort, so let’s get to work.

Step Three – Work

Perform planned actions systematically without deviating from the plan. It is best to write reports to yourself daily and analyze the results of your work

Step Four – More Work

Yes, working on yourself is not easy. Get ready for the fact that difficulties await you on the way to expanding your comfort zone, and you won’t be able to achieve results with lightning speed. Don't try to jump quickly to the desired level. Sometimes this works, but more often a familiar, persistent feeling of fear arises, driving you back into your comfort zone. Don’t try to bite off too big a piece; move towards the goal slowly, getting comfortable with each new milestone. This will take time, but the result will be sustainable.

New habits are established within 21 days, and it will take us the same amount of time. We need to achieve a feeling of comfort at each new stage, then we will be able to “trample down” for ourselves a large and comfortable field for a balanced existence.

Step five – Development of “new lands”

One day we will definitely understand that yesterday’s risk zone has become a comfort zone, and we can explore new territories. This will be a victory.

Keep moving!

We managed to overcome a certain border that hindered our development, but this does not mean at all that the time has come to rest on our laurels. Yes, we have expanded the framework within which we can live calmly and not be tormented by fears, but the situation will certainly repeat itself if we do not learn to easily leave our comfort zone. It is important to learn not to be afraid when meeting new things. Psychologists offer us tools to develop this habit.

Start changing your daily habits. Take a different route to work, change your daily routine, choose a store you don’t usually go to and buy a new set of products.

A proven way to get out of your comfort zone is to meet new people.

Would you like to attend any courses or trainings? Are you interested in a certain area of knowledge, but you couldn’t disrupt your usual rhythm of life, so you avoided communicating with strangers? Overcome your fears and start communicating with a new circle of people.

Perhaps you once wanted to learn how to draw, draw aquarium fish or weave lace? Learn new skills is great way expanding your comfort zone.

Wake up one day, get dressed and go on an unplanned trip. Let it be a neighboring city, a remote area of your city, or a park that you have never been to before - it doesn’t matter. You are guaranteed fresh impressions.

Change your clothing style. For girls who can't get out of trousers, it is useful to wear an elegant dress. Men accustomed to jeans and sneakers will feel differently in a classic suit. You will be surprised to notice how much your mood depends on your clothes. Rearrange the furniture in your home. Come up with “refreshing” situations for yourself and implement your plans.

Why leave your comfort zone?

And really, why? A measured life without any major shocks, familiar little joys, planned holidays with a well-known menu and entertainment program. What's wrong with that?

Imagine driving on the autobahn. Such a long, very good road with no surprises. You have left point A and are heading to point B. You have a good, reliable car, along the edges of the road there are fast food cafes with the same set of food. You listen to music that you have chosen. From time to time you see exits to cities, but you don’t need to go there, you’re going to point B. If you decided to turn off the highway, you would end up in an ancient city with a medieval castle, or you would suddenly see a blue lake overgrown with lilies. Or maybe on the street of a foreign city you would meet the person you have dreamed of all your life? In those places that you have not visited, they live strangers– they are happy and sad, cry and laugh, each has their own story of joy and despair. Maybe you could help someone and change their life for the better? You never know what could have happened if you had deviated from your path. But why? You know you are moving in the right direction.

And if you imagine that this is a highway - life with two points obligatory for everyone? Maybe you should get out of the cabin to find out what the spring leaves smell like and hear what the visitors to the village tavern are talking about? There, in life, it’s interesting!

There is an old and very correct saying: “Fish looks for where it is deeper, but man looks for where it is better.” And this is completely correct and natural. Every person strives to make their life as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. The living space is larger, the car is faster, the bed is softer, the computer is more powerful. It would be complete idiocy to refuse these benefits of civilization.

It would seem, what’s wrong with a calm, comfortable existence? You feel relaxed, there are no risks in your life, you are happy with the way things are going and do not feel any need to change anything. You may not feel incredibly happy, or 100% satisfied, but at least you feel comfortable, right?

Almost always, your comfort zone is the fruit of self-deception. You tell yourself that there is no better alternative to your current situation, that you have spent too much effort building it, that it is already too hard to change anything in life. You stop at one, albeit rather convenient, place and with your own hands nullify all the magnificent prospects of your life. Your comfort zone turns into the end point of your journey. Why is this happening?

You're getting soft

What happens to a person who is immersed in a bath with warm water? He relaxes, goes limp. What if such a stay is extended for quite a long time? That's right, he is deteriorating. His muscles lose tone and very soon he will not only be able to run, but even just stand still.

But this applies not only to the body. The same thing happens with our brain.

The lack of need to solve complex problems leads to dilution in the head and loss of clarity of thinking, ability to learn and make decisions.

You become a vegetable that moves along the same path every day and performs the same tasks every day.

Meanwhile, remember what period of your life was the most fruitful and creative for you? I am sure that these were not the most well-fed and comfortable times. Some will remember student sleepless nights, other life-threatening journeys and situations, and still others - crisis periods in their lives, when everything had to start all over again.

You give up on life goals

Every, okay, almost every person has somewhere deep in the subcortex that very cherished goal of their life. Yes, something from the “see Paris and die” series. The most interesting thing is that very often these goals are not so exorbitant and unattainable. But something always gets in our way.

You may never recognize yourself

There is an opinion, and it is quite justified, that only in difficulties is the true face of a person revealed. You can live your whole life in hothouse conditions and never know what you are really capable of. Can you really be brave and inventive? Can you really show patience and perseverance or do you just imagine it?

It's time to get out of your comfort zone and understand, if only for yourself, what kind of person you really are and where the limits of your capabilities lie. I assure you that the result will definitely surprise you.

Sooner or later, the comfort zone for any person turns into a factor that slows down his development and deprives life of the thrill. Remember the most interesting points of your life. Surely most of them are connected precisely with those moments when you did something unusual, extreme, beyond the usual routine. We stepped out of our comfort zone.

So why not do it again?

A comfort zone is a certain area of a person’s psychological and living space, characterized by feelings of familiarity and security, preservation of cause-and-effect relationships and stable confidence in the future. The personal comfort zone can have rigid boundaries or fairly flexible boundaries, which is determined by the type nervous system and features of human interaction with reality.

The personal comfort zone has no connection with external comfort provided by the material world; it is an internal concept, a kind of framework for where a person feels safety. For some, gilding on the walls and a salad for a hundred euros may be a necessary component of everyday life, while for another person it would be more emotionally comfortable to eat a hot dog on a bench in the park and live in a tent - these are two materially different comfort zones, and if their representatives are swapped , then they will experience the same level of stress and unfamiliarity.

Comfort zone in psychology

This space is a significant value for most people and reflects the desire for stability and strengthening the situation of satisfaction. Despite this, the comfort zone is a positive concept; only when a person strives for it, having found himself in such a state of predictable and reliable satisfaction, the incentive for development and striving forward disappears, since the need to change anything disappears. In addition to his ability and personality, a person who finds himself in a comfort zone for a long time may experience certain infringements and oppression, sacrificing, for example, his own emotional state for the sake of preserving the family, or for the quality of rest and standard of living for the sake of a stable but low-paid job.

People continue to be in conditions that are not entirely suitable, but familiar and stable, because immediately outside the comfort zone, the risk zone begins, which means danger, uncertainty, testing, the need to turn on the brain, learn new things, cope with unfamiliar situations, and also experience defeat. The reluctance to lose something small, even if not very valuable, outweighs the new opportunities that come with it for many.

Leaving your comfort zone is always associated with development, and not always with losses and an uncomfortable feeling of self. Personal development as a process is natural and, accordingly, comfortable; only the person himself can make it intolerable by being stuck for a long time in a pleasant environment or taking on a task beyond his strength. The entire system is built on a correct assessment of one’s level and sense of the amount of internal resources personal development, where you periodically need to leave your comfort zone or return to it to replenish resources.

The comfort zone is used as psychological concept precisely because it reflects a person’s psychological comfort. This zone is determined conditional boundaries, but a state of mental relaxation and peace, in which habitual stereotypical actions and stereotyped judgments are usually performed (like walking to the refrigerator in your apartment at night or automatically closing the door). Experts note that a sense of security and stability are the only positive characteristics similar situations and events, and in the future there is a deterioration in the human condition, since the desire for active action completely atrophies. Such relaxation leads to stagnation and inevitable degradation, aggravation of existing problems.

The most common companion of a person who has reached a comfortable state and is not going to look for a way out of the comfort zone is the absence of work on his own development. If for a long time the situation does not develop in such a way, where there is a forced need to leave the greenhouse conditions, then conscious activity is gradually turned off, the person begins to live on autopilot, which leads to strong regression. Usually, for someone who has been in a comfort zone for a long time, even the slightest step outside of it becomes serious stress. Thus, a person is capable of falling into a serious stress disorder due to a change of office, where everything has become unusual (one can imagine the state of practicality and helplessness that a change of job can drive such a person into).

In the ability to expand or narrow one’s comfortable environment (it is not a stable established structure), an important role is played by the presence of interest or, which meets a person at the border. If acquaintance with the unknown is supported by interest, then there is a chance of quickly expanding past boundaries and mastering new life strategies. Fear paralyzes or forces a person to further narrow his circle of comfort. Advances in one direction or the other are reasonable while maintaining smoothness and gradualness, since when suddenly thrown into a completely unfamiliar situation, a person remains disoriented and helpless - this leads to disruption and.

Leaving the comfort zone, as a desire for new experiences and testing the world around us, is directly related to the maturation of the individual, and for a child the boundaries of his comfort are translucent; he easily tries new things and comes into contact with the unfamiliar. The experience gained is stored and remembered, things appear that are recognized as good and as dangerous, and a set of rules is developed to ensure one’s survival and development.

By mid-life, most people cease to have an insatiable interest in the surrounding reality, believing that they have learned all the laws of this world and stop developing, remaining in the chosen pleasant conditions, it is from this moment that aging and degradation begin. But this has less to do with age and more to do with psychological characteristics, those people who grow up in the psychological sense throughout their lives and do not stop in their development, leave the boundaries of their own comfort quite flexible (the Internet is replete with examples of pensioners who give a head start to young people in their travels and experiments).

There is also a narrowing of the comfort zone, this is especially evident in people with addictions (chemical or religious, work or relationship), when almost the whole life comes down to one thing, and there is no opportunity to change (due to fear, inability to act maturely). hide from real life for faith and its dictation, for own security or other things, but whatever the reason, this leads to a departure from real life and a collision with one’s own.

Brian Tracy - comfort zone

Brian Tracy is the most popular specialist (among readers for sure) in introducing into practice methods leading to. He spent considerable time (on the order of several decades) identifying the leading factors in and wrote a book on motivation, with various methods management of temporary resources with increasing efficiency, where the leading factor of development was the ability to leave the comfort zone.

Brian Tracy offers twenty-one methods for increasing your effectiveness, helping you to focus on your chosen activity and plunge into the development of your own personality, even if this means leaving your comfort zone. The primary rule, reflected in all the rules of Brian Tracy's theory, is to focus on one most important task and complete it completely, despite the lack of interest or the presence of many current minor needs. This approach forces a person to face the limitations of his own comfort - those who are used to developing and working will easily overcome the lack of concentration, while those who are accustomed to indulgences and self-pity can experience overload comparable to a beginner in the gym.

A theory is derived about the need to determine the most significant tasks and carry them out. Avoidance of expanding your comfort zone can manifest itself in constant loading with unimportant, but constant routine activities, from which no changes occur, and time is wasted. Whether a person chooses such a strategy in order not to start an unfamiliar activity or out of fear of finding himself in a new reality after completing the main tasks is an individual question, but systematization of affairs and awareness of the results of inactivity can paint a picture of the immediate development of the situation.

The book helps to distribute your energy so that setting unknown tasks in your performance does not lead to stress and rapid depletion of personal resources, and accordingly helps you to authentically and effectively engage in the process of your personal development, avoiding anxious overloads when leaving comfortable conditions (which is inevitable for changing the situation ).

How to get out of your comfort zone

The normal state of the human psyche is the desire for comfort and development, but these concepts are not compatible in the same time period, since any development involves exerting strength and attention, acting in unusual conditions. But the point of development always lies in applying the experience gained to stabilize the situation. Thus, it turns out that a person has an inherent desire to enter the comfort zone, stay in it to accumulate resources and consider the situation for improvement, and then subsequently leave it to develop and gain new experience that helps improve the comfort zone, and return to it.

Leaving your comfort zone for the sake of new fashion trends is useless and destructive; this phenomenon in itself is quite natural and does not require excessive effort and the creation of an artificial situation. Every person is faced with a similar state from childhood - we learn to walk, talk, write, in principle, any acquired skills contain an element of a temporary exit from a comfortable state in order to improve its quality. This process is called development, but maintaining the existing order of things for the sake of stability and ease of existence is degradation. Development has nothing to do with breaking oneself or violence; this process originates from, the internal craving for change and knowledge. Therefore, behind any exit from the comfort zone there should be a person’s inner personal meaning in this event, just as in leaving the house (the reason is not so important - a vital operation or the desire to breathe autumn leaves - the main thing is that the person sees his own meaning of what is being done).

Thus, if inner meaning is found, then fear is replaced by interest or anxiety, and knowledge of needs helps not to completely plunge into the risk zone, but to leave yourself comfortable islands on which you can rely and get a place to replenish your resource. For example, if it is important for a person to change jobs, then it is worth leaving the old friends and not changing the situation in the apartment during the adaptation stage - this tactic helps not to fly into a disorienting environment, but to smoothly expand the boundaries of one’s comfort, which helps to consolidate them for a longer time. If you change everything radically, then the level of anxiety can go off scale so much that it will return you to your original state, if not throw you back in terms of the level of what you have achieved.

Excessive workload can reduce motivation, and prolonged discomfort will force you to abandon your plans. Therefore, get out of comfortable conditions gradually, let it happen a little longer, but with a feeling of ease. Dose the discomfort, periodically returning to a pleasant state, perhaps gradually increasing the time.

Thus, the main direction of your activity should not be aimed at leaving your comfortable state of mind, but at smoothly expanding those areas where you can feel familiar and best assistant here it is not fear or compulsion, but interest. It may not be direct, play with your motivation - after all, if it is impossible to learn a language, then you need to find why you personally need it (for example, to fall in love with some foreigner).

You've probably heard more than once that you need to leave your comfort zone more often, because this is extremely useful for development. But what is a comfort zone and what do we really know about it, other than the following fact:

Caption: On the right is your comfort zone, and on the left is where miracles happen

So, what is a person's comfort zone and why should we leave it?

In science, the “comfort zone” is defined through the concept of anxiety, namely: “The comfort zone is a type of behavior in which anxiety is kept at a consistently low level.” Imagine cooking dinner, driving to work, or watching TV: these everyday activities do not cause you anxiety or awkwardness, you do them automatically, they constitute your comfort zone. This is what a comfort zone means in psychology.

Sometimes when people talk about getting out of your comfort zone they mean “try something new,” but in general it refers to any situation in which you feel insecure or nervous. So, if on the way to work you get stuck in a traffic jam or you don’t like that the train is crowded with people, then these familiar situations cease to be neutral for you, and you experience discomfort. In this case, why leave your comfort zone and what's good about it?

While we all crave pleasurable sensations, a certain level of discomfort can be surprisingly beneficial. Even the smallest inconvenience can push us to finish the job faster or improve the quality of its completion.

A study conducted in 1908 showed that mice faced with very simple tasks, increased their productivity only when their anxiety levels increased. When the task turned out to be difficult, then anxiety It only helped up to a certain level - once a certain threshold was reached, the combination of complexity and anxiety led to a drop in productivity.

The figure above shows that outside the comfort zone there is a growth zone, however, when moving significantly away from it, excessive anxiety appears, which can lead to a state of panic. This illustration clearly explains the results of the mouse experiment. It’s worth thinking about how to get out of your comfort zone with benefit.

How we behave in conditions of uncertainty

Uncertainty is often the cause of discomfort. You have peace of mind when cooking dinner or driving a car, but only if you do it every day and know what to expect. However, if you decide to try new recipe, got behind the wheel for the first time, or maybe you are applying for another job or wanted to jump from a parachute, you are guaranteed to be alarmed.

Uncertainty can also make you react more strongly to negative experiences. Research has shown that when negative images were preceded by uncertainty, they produced a stronger negative effect than when participants were prepared and knew what to expect.

For the same reason, people tend to react negatively to any changes, even if in the end they themselves come to them. What happens if you step too far out of your comfort zone? American researcher Brené Brown believes that uncertain social, political or economic conditions significantly narrow our comfort zone: the more fearful we are, the less confident we are in ourselves and the future, and the more difficult it is to get rid of this condition.

Thus, for the human psyche, striving for familiar and familiar things, any unknown is a reason to be wary. From an evolutionary perspective, this behavior is explained by viewing familiar situations as safer: “Hey, we tried this and didn't die. Probably if we try the same thing again, nothing bad will happen.”

Therefore, thinking about the unknown takes a lot of energy, and in case of fatigue or loss of strength, we would rather follow the usual path than try something new.

Going beyond

So, how to leave your comfort zone and is it worth it? Is this really good for you? Scientists say yes, but up to certain limits. Just like the mice in the experiment, do not expose yourself to unnecessary stress to avoid panic.

Let's look at the main benefits of leaving your comfort zone.

Self-development

A positive attitude and hope for success, combined with some anxiety and self-doubt, can lead you to personal growth. This is why sports such as rock climbing or skydiving are often featured on lists of tips for getting someone out of their comfort zone: you feel nervous and anxious, but when you finish, you feel a huge sense of satisfaction that you did it, and this increases your confidence in to yourself.

Expanding your comfort zone

If you have a small comfort zone, that is, there is only small quantity things you can do without worrying, you risk living your life in fear and missing out on a lot of interesting things. By getting out of your comfort zone more or less regularly, you will gradually increase the number of situations that are familiar and familiar to you.

In this way, you will be able to enjoy life much more, since well-known things are pleasant in themselves, even if at first we felt uncomfortable when mastering them.

Novelty motivates us and helps us learn.

New experiences lead to an increase in dopamine levels in the brain, which is part of the “reward system.” This hormone makes us seek rewards, and new situations increase this thirst. Novelty has also been shown to develop our memory and improve our learning abilities, making our brains more flexible.

Daniel H. Pink, an author on motivation and work management, says in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Makes Us Perform that we all strive for some ideal level of discomfort in which we can to be as productive as possible.

This golden mean, when discomfort prevents you from relaxing too much and tones you up without depriving you of the desire or ability to work, is what you should strive for. By getting used to a little discomfort, you will successfully expand your comfort zone. Now you know what it means to get out of your comfort zone and how to do it.

How far are you willing to go beyond your usual boundaries? It's up to you. Perhaps after reading this article you will decide to try something fundamentally new in life. The most important thing is to maintain a healthy balance between safety and comfort, and then you are guaranteed to enjoy life's experiments.