The Comfort Zone

The Comfort Zone is often characterized as a 'barren landscape where nothing grows’.  In this blog I would like to examine the veracity of that metaphor.

The comfort zone is a psychological state in which people feel at ease, and in control of their environment while experiencing low anxiety and stress. It is basically the set of behaviors and habits a person falls back into where they are not being actively coerced to do actions which they find uncomfortable, or they are not consciously making an effort to overcome themselves by putting themselves through hardship.

I do not agree with the imagery of the comfort zone as a barren landscape, and I think that it is indicative of a fundamental flaw with our conception of the comfort zone. I do not wish to say that we should not strive to go out of our comfort zone often, for it is in those conditions that we achieve optimal performance. However, I wish to make the point that a healthy, non toxic comfort zone is just as, if not more important than a constant growth mindset.

Working towards improving oneself is something we always innately wish to do as human beings however it is something that requires energy. Our energy reserves are limited, and once they are depleted, we fall back into patterns of behaviour that do not require much energy or thought, i.e the comfort zone. This may happen after days at a time, or possibly multiple times in a single day depending how much we can persevere with our growth mindset. With practice we can reduce the amount of time we end up in the comfort zone, but totally eliminating it is not possible.

A toxic comfort zone would be one which has self-sabotaging behaviour. Most of us in this day and age fall prey to such a comfort zone. As an example, there is no point of being able to exercise for 6 hours a day 5 days a week if you binge on extremely unhealthy foods over the weekends. A toxic comfort zone leads to a loss of progress that is achieved with a growth mindset. Hence, to achieve long term progress, a neutral or net positive comfort zone is just as important as being able to work long and hard. In a neutral or net positive comfort zone, we are able to fulfil our responsibilities on pretty much auto pilot, even though our work may not be exceptional.

I would also like to challenge the assumption that the comfort zone doesn’t offer us any value. In the comfort zone, our behaviour is conditioned and almost involuntary. With a positive comfort zone, we are able to build consistent habits during this time. Habits are the reaffirmation of our identity to ourselves and they help us build self-esteem, and trust in ourselves. Instead of aiming to remove this entirely, we should aim to expand what comes under a positive comfort zone where we are able to undertake a large number of positive behaviours automatically.

To conclude, the goal isn’t to destroy the wasteland, but rather to reform that land and the land around it into a lush green forest that recharges us and improves us every time we go to it.