7 myths about the comfort zone that prevent you from living life to the fullest

We are accustomed to thinking that the comfort zone is a concept from psychology. In fact, it came from the field of human resources management and became popular back in the 1990s thanks to Judith Bardwick is a management consultant specializing in corporate culture.

In his book “Hazard in the comfort zone” she defined this term as the state of the worker in which he operates using a limited set of behaviors to achieve a stable level of performance without experiencing anxiety and usually doing nothing without taking any risks. In other words, within a person's comfort zone there is little incentive to make major breakthroughs. He engages in routine “safe” work and as a result his progress stalls.

Over time, the concept of “comfort zone” went beyond the HR sphere and began to be used much more widely, simultaneously acquiring many myths. Here are just a few of them.

1. It's safe in the comfort zone

Safety is often confused with familiarity. The fact that you know your comfort zone well and have learned to act carefully within its boundaries does not mean that it is safe. In reality, staying in it may be the riskiest choice. A false sense of security can hold you back from making changes in your life. Feelings of satisfaction, peace and happiness are most often outside your comfort zone.

2. Comfort zone is predictable

A consistent daily routine and habits are, of course, good. However, an established and predictable way of life does not at all guarantee that everything will remain the same. Remember the coronavirus pandemic, which demonstrated this to the whole world. And think about how repeating the same actions day after day is keeping you from forming the new habits you need to achieve your career or personal life goals.

Nobody knows what the future holds for us. Life is constantly changing and requires us to change with it, adapting to unusual conditions. So nothing can be predicted with certainty, either inside or outside your comfort zone.

3. Everything is under control in your comfort zone

We are definitely responsible for that choicewhich we do. But we cannot completely control our lives, both inside and outside our comfort zone. There are many external factors that we simply cannot influence.

Fear makes us want total control, please others, be passive aggressive, and think we are “right” in an attempt to take matters into our own hands. But such efforts ultimately lead us back to the very fear we are trying to avoid.

4. The comfort zone protects against failure

No one wants to fail, and we are willing to pay any price just to protect ourselves from such a negative experience. But failures still happen to everyone. This is just another way to learn new things and develop. But giving up and not even trying is failure. You may think that in your comfort zone you are successfully avoiding failure, but you risk falling into the trap of failure and not even knowing it.

5. The comfort zone saves you from fear

Trying something new is always scary. Requires a willingness to experience anxiety and mental turmoil and overcome these feelings. The more often you do this, the easier it becomes. The more successful you are at this, the stronger your self-confidence. A successful person is not one who has never been afraid of anything, but one who has faced his fear and moved on anyway.

When we remain in our comfort zone, and therefore in fear, we cannot give and receive love. Love and fear cannot coexist in the same space.

6. The comfort zone does not prevent you from following your calling

When we are forced out of our comfort zone, we begin to make excuses and succumb to procrastination. We often think that if we fail at something, then we are not meant to do it. That if we were more courageous, sociable, assertive, experienced, or something else, then everything would work out.

In fact vocation always leads us to where we feel tension and discomfort. This is exactly what is necessary for personal growth, and not marking time in one place, which does not help in any way in the search for what will bring real pleasure and satisfaction from life.

7. Comfort zone - happiness zone

A place where everything comes easy, and a place where we happy, are not the same thing. Feelings of joy and extreme contentment are often a by-product of personal growth, effort and achievement beyond what one could have imagined. Life becomes happy when we fill it with meaning.

Stepping out of your comfort zone isn't easy, but even the smallest steps matter. The more often you leave it, the easier each next step will be for you and the faster you will see positive results.