Brené Brown defines the comfort zone as follows: “When our uncertainty, scarcity and vulnerablility are minimized- where we belive we’ll have access to enough love, food, talent, time, admiration. Where we feel we have some control. When we get into times of social, political or financial instability, our comfort zones get smaller. [The more afraid we are] the more impenetrable our comfort zones buffers become.”

Photocredit: Verena Küppers Photography

So basically, it is a place where we feel safe and secure. It is in our daily life routines. Everything we have done before and succeeded in, becomes part of our comfort zone. But on the other side, nothing new can come from inside our comfort zone. If we decide to stay there, there is no growth, no new experiences and no flexibility. Also, creativity and innovation are at a really low level. If Henry Ford would have stayed in his comfort zone, we still would be driving around in horse carriages.

There are multiple reasons to step out of your comfort zone. I would like to show you three of them.

Self-growth

If you want to grow it is essential to step out of your comfort zone. And yes, it is fearful or uncomfortable. And another yes to failure. You will fail, but you will also learn and deal with the challenges and problems that are coming up. You will learn new skills and therefor extend your comfort zone. This enables you to grow, live your dreams and reach your goals.

With the first small steps you will start to see yourself differently, maybe more confident or more courageous. You will grow and be proud of yourself. This will also change how others will perceive you. Just imagine to start a huge presentation in front of an audience courageous instead of afraid.

So, stepping out of your comfort zone will grow you and help you to achieve more of your goals.

Performance

Performance is described by the Yerkes-Dodson Law, which is explained in the Harvard Business Review. It states that your performance increases with your stress level, at least until the breaking point.

The level of needed stress also varies with the task at hand. For example, you need a lower stress level to perform on new tasks. See the video “When Stress Helps You Get More Done” for more information.

Innovation

I already gave the example of Henry Ford. This shows that innovation can’t happen if you stay in the learned beliefs or paradigms. You have to start questioning those to reach the unbelievable. This doesn’t necessary mean to throw away everything you learned and belief in , but it means to connect the things differently. It also means to get rid of your own set of limitations. Instead of “yes, but” think “yes, and”.

This also means that you have to take some risks and maybe loose some of the control. Since you haven’t done it before there is no guarantee that what you are trying will work. This makes you vulnerable. But if you don’t try it, you will never know if it would have worked. If you fail, learn from it instead of being devastated.

Let me tell you a few examples of how I stepped out of my comfort zone and what I gained from it. And believe me, I did not start with those examples.

My first trip to Mexico

I still remember my first trip to Mexico. I had never been in Middle or South America. My travels so far have been in Europe and the US. This was something completely new for me. And yes, I had heard about a lot of crime and all those things. Still, standing in the travel agency it was the best offer and in a spur of the moment discission I booked the trip.

Fortunately for me, that was only a couple of days before I had to leave. So not that much time for fretting and overthinking it. On my way to the airport, it finally sank in. The first few days I stayed in the safety of my resort. The first trip to a nearby city was done sweating, feeling sick in the back of a cab. But once I was there I really enjoyed it. I started taking longer trips as well as some overnight trips to farther places.

To this day, when I am off to a new country on the way to the airport, I ask myself: ” What have you gotten yourself into now?”, but with the experience I gained this only lasts about 10 min. Then, I remember how much I enjoyed my last trips, meeting new people, experiencing new cultures and being very happy there.

Moving and meeting people outside of work

When I started my first job, I had to move to a new city, even a new country. I didn’t think much about it. I mean I had moved to the US working as an Au pair right after school, moved around for internships during studies. Well, let me tell you, my standard ways of meeting new people didn’t work. It was ok in the work environment, but meeting people outside of work was just not happening the way I was used to. I did find excuses for this for a long time. It even let me burn out.

So, I moved again. But this time with a plan. I learned out of my experience. Encounters just don’t happen anymore like in school or during college. You have to do something for them. So, I enrolled into a club even before I started working. Went to XING or LinkedIn Meetups where I knew nobody. Invited people to my birthday I hardly knew at all. All of this with a funny feeling in my stomach. Sometimes backing out at the last moment only to try again the next time.

It worked out and I can’t tell you how happy and proud that makes me.

• Your comfort zone is safe and secure but also limiting
• If you step out of it you have the chance to grow, perform better and be innovative
• It is not easy, but possible to extend your comfort zone