The comfort zone is a warm and cozy place to live your life. But, what are you missing out on? Staying in the safety, familiarity, and comfort of the comfort zone is the path of least resistance to navigating your life. But is it really where you want to spend a large portion of your life? Today we are going to look at the different zones from the comfort zone to the growth zone, and how to move from one zone to the next
What are these zones?
The comfort zone is a common phrase used in psychology, where a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of activity, usually with no or minimal risk.
In common terms, the person is operating in a safe space and allowing fear of the unknown and anxiety to hold them back from experiencing more of life.
Leaving the comfort zone allows the person to progress into a fear zone, a learning zone, and finally into a stage of the growth zone. With patience and effort, a person can move from the comfort zone to the growth zone.
Each zone is marked by unique traits and actions from the person in the zone. Moving from the comfort zone to the growth zone is a challenging process. Your nervous system desires comfort but your mind and soul crave expansion. This dichotomy pits those two parts of you against each other and you may feel internal conflict as you progress.
Comfort zone
This zone is known for its feeling of safety, comfort, and security. The zone is easy, and stable, but often it can lead to boredom for the person. This boredom drives the person to either seek change or find numbing behaviors staying within the comfort zone.
Fear zone
The fear zone is known for people reaching their breaking point and desiring something different in their life. Often the person enters this zone lacking self-confidence and is very affected by other people’s opinions and how they are perceived by people around them.
People in this zone often look for reasons to quit and move back to a safe and comfortable space. Moving past this zone requires some small “wins” where the person feels competent in their abilities. Having a mentor or coach who can encourage you will be very useful.
Learning zone
The learning zone is like opening up a whole new world to you! This zone will see you facing new challenges, taking action, and seeing changes as a result of those actions. You will learn new skills in dealing with new challenges and problems. This is where your comfort zone starts to grow with you. Areas of life that were scary or caused anxiety when you began are now areas you feel comfortable and competent.
Growth zone
A growth zone is a place where people are able to live, flourish, and chase their dreams. They are able to find purpose with the new knowledge they learned in the last zone and are able to have the confidence to conquer their objectives with ease. People in this zone need to regularly set and accomplish new goals to keep them from stagnating.
Reminders!
Remember, life changes are not linear. Someone may take steps into a new zone and then revert back to their previous zone for a period of time.
It can take significant effort to move and make life changes from one zone to the next. Many people will move one area of their life to a new zone, and then follow up by moving one more, followed by another, until most of their life is in the new zone.
This can look like taking steps to move from the comfort zone to the fear zone in your social life, followed by your work or career area of life, followed by your family or friend circle, and then the remaining areas of your life.
Some areas of your life may always remain in a different zone than the rest of your life. That is ok! Just because you are conquering the learning and growth zone in your professional career, doesn’t mean your small, safe friend circle needs to go with it. Keeping some areas of your life in the comfort zone can provide an anchoring feeling that is grounding when the rest of your life is moving, changing, and chaotic!
How to move from the comfort zone to the growth zone?
Decide you want to make changes
Starting from a place of internal desire is key in this instance. If you are only making changes because of outside influence, then you will never move out of your comfort zone for long-term changes. Don’t rush this process. Identify why this is important to you and make sure you really, deeply want these changes.
Start doing regular, every day activities differently
Start with activities you do daily, and add an aspect from the next zone to those routine activities. This will look different for everyone, but here are some examples:
- Spend less time on social media on your phone
- Join a gym and interact with people instead of working out alone
- Make healthier eating choices for most of your meals
- Reduce the amount of tv you watch and read a book instead
- Try a new skill within your existing hobby
- Interact with people you see in your neighborhood with a simple smile or hi
Identify an area of your life you want to start with
Take some time to identify what area of your life you want to move to the next level. Changing all of your life at once is unsustainable and exhausting! Ensure your changes will stick, by picking one area of your life to start with. Common areas people are looking to change are their social, lifestyle, or career.
Take it one step at a time
Remember, this is a process and you are human! Making these lasting changes will not be a perfectly linear and successful process! There will be steps forward, steps back, active failure, and small successes. Keep reminding yourself of your reason why from step one, and don’t let yourself get discouraged. Having close friends or a mentor/coach can help with this step and keep you from getting discouraged.
Give yourself compassion and grace
You will never get out of the comfort/fear zones if you are angry, hating, or cruel to yourself when things don’t go well. In order to learn and grow, you must give yourself compassion and grace for how difficult change is, and that you may fail sometimes. Pat yourself on the back, take a break and then keep going on this journey. The result is worth it!
How are you feeling about all of that! There is a ton of effort and information here, all summed up in 1000 words. In reality, this is a lifelong process, that you will use, circle back to, and constantly be working on.
Don’t give up if you feel like this is an overwhelming process. In many ways it is! Accept that it will never be perfect or reach an identified finish line. This is a journey and process that will evolve throughout your life.
Have you gone through this comfort zone to the growth zone process in your life before? What lessons did you learn in the process and what can you share with others to make it easier? I would love to hear your ideas in the comments below or over on our Instagram page!
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