“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” ~ Neale Donald Walsch

I know, comfortable ways out of the comfort zone sounds a bit like a paradox, but I want to emphasize that you don’t have to start bungee-jumping in order to get out of your comfort zone. It’s not that melodramatic and it’s not that clever either. What you want to do is create a well-balanced life where you learn and grow continuously being on the border of your comfort zone.

What’s the Comfort Zone?

Your Comfort Zone

The comfort zone is the area of your life where you just feel comfortable at, because your current skill set allows you to easily navigate within that area. For instance you are very comfortable with your daily schedule, but you want to get more energy and be fit. Doing regular exercise moves you out of your current comfort zone and helps you reach your goal of being fitter. Another example where you are very comfortable with is probably the way you work day-in and day-out. But imagine someone likes your work and invites you to speak about it in front of 1,000 people. That could potentially pull you out of your comfort zone big time. It could even create some anxiety in you.

comfort learning panic zones

It’s not necessarily wise to go into the panic zone. The best way to grow your comfort zone is to stay within the learning zone or at the edge between learning and panic zone. You can go into the panic zone, and it can potentially create rapid growth and accelerate your learning massively, but it’s also likely that you could experience this as a negative experience. It all depends on how well you can handle these situations.

The panic zone is where your current skill set is nowhere near the level that is needed. If you are afraid of speaking in public and haven’t done it in your life yet, doing a speech in front of 1,000 people will move you into your panic zone. Of course it depends on how well you handle the situation and how you work with the feedback you get. But in general, going into the learning zone is the right approach.

Ways Out of the Comfort Zone

1. Learn Something New

That’s one of the easiest and most fun way to grow continuously is to learn something new every day. Make it a habit to feed your mind on a regular basis with exactly the interesting knowledge you are passionate about. Try to find the best knowledge there is in your chosen field. Then while learning try to use this knowledge and integrate it into your life.

2. Travel to New Destinations

Traveling and getting to know a new culture and new people is a great way to broaden your perspective and to grow. Maybe take a look at the map and decide your next destination right now.

3.  Set Goals

Setting goals is an essential part to stimulating your own personal growth. A good goal will pull you out of the comfort zone and will help you to reach something new which is at the border of your current horizon. Goals work so well because they focus your mind on a new reality and create a natural pull towards creating this reality.

4. Socialize with new people

Getting to know new people and growing your circle of friends will always be enriching to your life. Look for people who are somewhat different than your current friends, but not necessarily too far away from what works for you. They will create new experiences for you while you still go along fine with them.

5. Force Yourself to Do The Thing You Are Putting Off

There is a reason why you are putting your obvious and probably most important task off. And this reason is probably linked to some kind of fear of what might happen afterwards. You have to face your fears in order to grow as a human being, not hide behind them.

Leaving your comfort-zone feels uncomfortable. But it’s a good thing. Sometimes you have to force yourself to go through the discomfort in order to get to the level you want to be. Here is a final graphic which I found at Bloominghappy.com, which illustrates the correlation between your happiness and your ability to get out of your comfort zone:

happiness zone

Being outside your comfort zone raises your level of happiness unless your comfort level gets in the red panic zone. I’m curious about how you personally get out of your comfort zone. Hit the leave a comment button below after writing your comment and let me know.

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