Who likes to leave a cosy comforter in the chill!! Being too comfortable in a position never serves growth or to put it this way “growth never happens in your comfort zone”. It has become a bane for majority of the workforce. Most people are averse to trying something new, taking risk, marching into a new territory as its fraught with uncertainty.

I too faced it for many years before taking a big call in my career. I had resigned myself to doing a particular slot at NDTV where I spent over 15 years as a news anchor. Though what I was doing wasn’t easy for others but it worked for me. It built a comfort zone for me where I could manage my personal and professional life well.

Life had been smooth and I didn’t have any issues in my comfort zone. It suited me and I was too used to it that I unconsciously compromised my growth.   The realisation happened much later.

Why One Needs To Be Wary Of The Comfort Zone

• Comfort zone defies the law of change. Change is the only constant. Anything that is too comfortable for a long time is against the law of change. Any habit that is in conflict with a universal law can never be fruitful in the long run.  A tree sheds old leaves to have new ones. Nature at every level operates like this. Same is true for human body. Our body regenerates itself beautifully periodically. If we resist change over a long period it is bound to sabotage our best interests.
• Comfort zone compromises competitiveness. When you surrender the hunger to scale up your life and career by being cosy in your comfort zone, you surrender your power to weakness and fear. Its about being not confident in your shoes to step out. You lag behind who are marching ahead to realise their dreams.
• You pay a big price when you are in your comfort zone. The person realises it, when its too late. Time is the most precious commodity in life. It is something that cannot be retrieved or reclaimed.
• Comfort zone offers little scope/ encouragement to learn new skills hampering your growth. When one is doing the same thing or working at the same company doing exactly the same thing as earlier,
• Comfort zone reduces the risk appetite. It makes you settle for less, it would stop you from venturing into the unknown. Unless you attempt something new, take risks, experience failures, how does one grow and be the best version of oneself.
• Comfort kills the desire to unleash your greatest version. Inventions, innovations, path-breaking and mind-blowing discoveries have never taken place from a seat of comfort. Unless you push yourself, you will remain where you are.

How To Beat The Habit Of Being In Comfort Zone

 Comfort Zone is addictive.

The monkey mind will play all the tricks to stop you from taking the plunge, all the fears will play out and you would be doubting if it is really worth it?

It feels so easy and convenient that one needs a strong desire coupled with steely will power to ditch it.

Visualisation is a powerful tool to bring out the stark contrast between your current reality and your goals. It helps you remain focussed on the goal, boosts your desire. It trains your mind to accept what you want. When the subconscious accepts it, you automatically spring into action.  . 

Explore more to do more. When being in comfort zone, people do like to laze around or don’t make the effort of working on themselves. Reading, researching and exploring more, gives the much-needed fodder for the brain to chew on. The more you think and find out about the world around you, the more inspired you would be, to take action.

Observe your peers, talk to them. Invest your time in getting hang of the buzz around them. Some of them will be pushing themselves to realise their goals. Seeing people making it big does induce comparison but it may also deliver a shake-up out of the comfort zone to swing into desired action.  

Difference Between Comfort Zone and Satisfaction

There is a thin line between being in a comfort zone and being satisfied. Being in comfort zone, makes one stop moving ahead, he/she is deemed to be satisfied with their growth and work. But being satisfied does not necessarily mean the same.

One can find satisfaction outside the comfort zone, with the right bent of mind. It could be for example “I am doing all that I can that takes me to grow, I will keep making efforts to move ahead towards my goal” when being outside of one’s comfort zone.

If you are satisfied with a compromised version, with no comparison with what others are doing while scaling up in their lives, it is fine.

But if being in one’s comfort zone, one is always comparing and complaining about how others are making it big, while blaming one’s fate or destiny then it is like ‘wanting the cake and eat it too’.

Comfort Zone is seductive, its convenient and it’s a no-brainer. Falling for it makes life a compromise. A compromise is a life less-lived.

Richha