Get Out of your Comfort Zone
Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
Most human beings have a tendency to prefer things that are easy, over things that are hard:
We prefer things that are simple, over things that are complex;
We prefer things that are certain over things that are uncertain.
We prefer things that we DO understand over things that we DON'T understand.
We prefer stability over instability, and we prefer consistency over inconsistency.
So, emotionally, we tend to move TOWARDS situations that we perceive as easy, predictable, simple, certain, stable, consistent; situations that are more comfortable.
Simultaneously, we tend to move AWAY from situations that are difficult, un-predictable, complex, un-certain, un-stable, inconsistent; and are, for us, outside of our comfort zones.
We like to feel comfortable; so we like living cocooned in our comfort zones
BUT: Your continued progress in the modern world now demands that you advance to positions far outside your normal comfort zones.
Nowadays, the situation is this, even to MAINTAIN your current position in the market place, you have to be prepared to change what you have been doing. You need to step well outside your comfort zone.
Your comfort zone may be defined as: Your usual behaviours, your habitual beliefs, your normal actions and reactions, all the ones you have repeated innumerable times over the last five years and which have thus become so routine and so easy, that you find them natural and comfortable.
So comfortable, in fact, that you don't have to think too much about HOW you do what you do, or WHY you do what you do.
And that is okay......
Except that it isn't!
It's not okay!
Why is it not okay to lounge around in your comfort zones?
For thousands of years of earth's history it was okay to stay in your comfort zone because staying in your comfort zone worked. In fact, it worked very well. For most of earth's history you would have been well advised to go to school (or become an apprentice), learn a single trade, and then get a job and go to work. And you could reasonably expect to be profitably employed in that SAME work throughout your whole life, with little or no need to change anything.
Such was the stability of life that even your name was a reflection of your job spec. For example, my surname is Farmer. Others are Smith. Baker. Carpenter. Brewer. Fletcher. Schumacher (shoemaker).
But then, in 1769 something REALLY BIG happened. James Watt invented the steam engine; and that invention kicked off the industrial revolution.
The industrial revolution meant that people left their age-old family trades and headed to the big cities to work in factories and offices. And then completely new skills were required. Engineers. Designers. Transportation specialists. Logistics. Salespeople. Marketing moguls and managers. The pace of change increased and people had to give up the old ways and learn the new ways.
Many people hated such massive change: they formed groups; there were luddites and saboteurs who fought against the demand for change. "Let's go back to the way it was. We don't like all this change". They cried.
From 1769 the world in the west changed forever.
Then in 1947 another big thing happened. American physicist William Shockley shocked the world with his invention of the electronic transistor; which made modern computers possible. Before Shockley's transistor, computers weighed tonnes and were slow, stupid and impractical. Now computers are light, small, intelligent and extremely practical.
Modern electronic computers control the world. Now you will see that change (driven by technological advancement) is taking place at an unprecedented pace.
The pace of technological change is now so fast that it has resulted in the human race being caught up in a continuous state of rapid evolution and advancement.
We are all in a race
Whether you like it or not, know it or not, your industry is racing ahead, evolving and changing; and you need to keep up.
Adapt or die
This need to adapt means that you can no longer afford to rest on your laurels; you can no longer lounge around the house in your baggy comfort zones.
Instead, you need to become comfortable in the new world. The new world is one where things are forever going to be: uncertain, always-changing, progressive, doubtful, complex, and unstable.
In other words; you need to become more comfortable outside your comfort zone.
Actually; being outside the comfort zone is great fun.
So why not step up, and step-out-of, your comfort zone?
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About the Author: Chris Farmer
Chris Farmer is the founder of the Corporate Coach Group and has many years’ experience in training leaders and managers, in both the public and private sectors, to achieve their organisational goals, especially during tough economic times. He is also well aware of the disciplines and problems associated with running a business.
Over the years, Chris has designed and delivered thousands of training programmes and has coached and motivated many management teams, groups and individuals. His training programmes are both structured and clear, designed to help delegates organise their thinking and, wherever necessary, to improve their techniques and skills.
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