Stay Within Your Comfort Zone (and Grow)
Abstract:
The general wisdom seems to be to leave your comfort zone if you wish to achieve anything. Want to learn and grow or change your life? Get out of your comfort zone.
Growth definitely happens outside the comfort zone. However, this isn’t the only way to grow.
Your mission today is to learn why it might be a good idea to stay within your comfort zone.
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Background: Why leave the comfort zone?
Let’s begin by looking at why it’s a good idea to leave your comfort zone at times. For example, if you’re stuck in a rut and your days all look the same, it might be a good idea to shake things up a little.
It’s a bit like training a muscle: In order to gain strength, you need to lift a little more weight than you can comfortably lift. This is also the reasoning used by all the gurus who tell you to leave your comfort zone to achieve things.
If you’re bored, absolutely do something that pushes you out of your comfort zone, that might even scare you a little. This is particularly useful if you’re aiming to learn something new.
Task: Find ways to stay within your comfort zone
We’ve established that leaving your comfort zone can indeed inspire growth. I still argue that this is not the only way nor perhaps even the best way to do this. We have so much discomfort in our lives already that pushing yourself out of your comfort zone might get too much.
If you’re stressed, perhaps by work or relationship problems, physical or mental health issues, you might be craving your comfort zone. The idea of leaving it is wholly unappealing.
I’ve been doing some research, and while I’m not done yet, the gist seems to be that it’s possible to grow and be comfortable at the same time. How do you grow a plant? By nourishing it.
So nourish yourself! Use positive reinforcement, increase your comfort. Children learn and grow when you make them feel good, not uncomfortable, and the same goes for adults. You might end up actually accelerating your growth this way.
Transcript
This is the transcript of what’s spoken in the video. You can also find this in the form of subtitles on the bottom right of the video itself.
You’re not lazy or weird
What if I told you to actually stay within your comfort zone?
Hello and welcome to this week's Wild Spirits News. My name is Sibylle, and I help women between 40 and 60 to do lots of what they love and to find their unique life purpose, and if this sounds interesting, then check out my website wildspiritscoaching.com.
Today's subject is 'Stay in your comfort zone'. Now the general wisdom seems to be to leave your comfort zone if you aim to achieve anything. Want to learn and grow? Get out of your comfort zone. Want to change your life? Get out of your comfort zone. Now while it's definitely possible to grow, and a lot of growth does happen outside of your comfort zone, it's not the only way to achieve growth. Your mission today is to learn why it could be a good idea to stay within your comfort zone.
Background: Why leave the comfort zone?
The background to this is 'Why leave the comfort zone?' Let's start by stating reasons why it's a good idea to actually leave your comfort zone every now and then. If you are, for example, stuck in a rut, if your days are samey, if nothing exciting ever seems to happen, then it might be time to actually shake things up a little bit, and you can do that very effectively by pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.
It's like training a muscle: In order to gain strength, you need to go a little further, put on a little more, you know, lift a little more weight than your muscle is comfortable with in order to encourage that growth, right? This is what all the gurus are going on about when they recommend you to leave your comfort zone. So if you are bored or unmotivated, do absolutely look for things to take you outside of your comfort zone, do something that is outside your comfort zone, that might even scare you a little bit.
Task: Find ways to stay within your comfort zone
Your task today is to find ways to stay within your comfort zone. So while we've just established that it's it is indeed possible to induce a lot of growth if you leave your comfort zone, I argue that it's not the only way, and it might not even be the best way to have growth, because a lot of us have so much discomfort in our lives already that adding more - artificially, so to speak, by putting yourself outside of your comfort zone - might get too much. In some cases, if you are stressed - let's say you have a lot going on at work or you have a relationship problem or mental health problems or indeed physical health issues - you might be craving your comfort zone, and the idea of leaving it voluntarily sounds entirely unappealing.
And this is where the research comes in that I've done recently. I'm not done yet by a long road, but the gist of it is already that it is very much possible to grow and be comfortable at the same time. How do you grow a plant? By nourishing it. So nourish yourself, use positive reinforcement, increase your comfort, especially if you're trying to learn something new. Like, how do children learn things? Not by you making them feel awful, it's by making them feel good. So use that same principle on yourself, and you might actually accelerate your growth.
Let me know
I hope this was useful! If it was, I would love to hear your opinion on it, so leave me a comment below the video or reply to the email that you got the link to the video with.
And like I said, if any of this sounds interesting, then check out my website wildspiritscoaching.com. You can also sign up for the love letter/newsletter on that website, called Wild Spirits News. It's 100% spam free, you will get one email per week and it is not some promotional, advertising newsletter; you always get some actually useful information that I don't share anywhere else. I wish you a beautiful week and I'll talk to you soon. Bye!