The Science of Breaking Out of Your Comfort Zone (and Why You Should)
There’s a lot of science that explains why it’s so hard to break out of your comfort zone, and why it’s good for you when you do it. With a little understanding and a few adjustments, you can break away from your routine and do great things.
The Science of Your “Comfort Zone” and Why It’s So Hard to Leave It
Your comfort zone is a behvioral space where your activities and behaviors fit a routine and pattern that minimizes stress and risk.
- It provides a state of mental security that benefits you in obvious ways: regular happiness, low anxiety, and reduced stress.
- In order to maximize performance, however, we need a space of relative anxiety-a space where our stress levels are slightly higher than normal.
Why It’s Important to Return To Your Comfort Zone from Time to Time
You can’t live outside of your comfort zone all the time. You need to come back from time to time to process your experiences.
- Hedonistic adaptation: the natural tendency to be impressed by new things only to have the incredible become ordinary after a short time
- Diversify the challenges you embrace so you don’t just push your boundaries in the same direction
Take It Slow, and Make Stretching Your Boundaries a Habit Of Its Own
The point of stepping out of your comfort zone is to embrace new experiences and to get to that state of optimal anxiety in a controlled, managed way, not to stress yourself out
- Take time to reflect on your experiences so you can reap the benefits and apply them to your day to day activities
- Try something new every week, or every month
- Don’t limit yourself to big, huge experiences
- You want to learn to learn what you’re really capable of
What You Get When You Break Free and Try New Things
You’ll be more productive
- Pushing your personal boundaries can help you hit your stride sooner, get more done, and find smarter ways to work.
- An easier time dealing with new and unexpected changes
- Learning to live outside your comfort zone when you choose to can prep you for life changes that force you out of it
- It gets easier over time. You’ll find it easier to push your boundaries in the future.
How to Break Out of Your Comfort Zone
Everyone’s comfort zone is different, and what may expand your horizons may paralyze someone else.
- Ways to break out of your comfort zone without going too far
- Do everyday things differently
- Try a different route to work
- Recalibrate your reality
- Take your time making decisions
- Travel
- Learn a new language or skill
- Trust yourself and make snap decisions