INTRODUCTION:
In the recent centuries and millenniums, the human is the only species that is evaluating with the highest speed. Inventions and discoveries are constantly adding a lot to the progress and eventually stimulates the thirst of achieving more, speedily.
Most progressive solutions are often found by a handful of people who benefited others. At times, the outcomes of their work seem magic to others. We all are fascinated with what those achievers built, neglecting that we too have the ability to create magic.
Most of us have the ability to excel in something and turn the wheel. Most of us possess tremendous potential, but we stop ourselves, and thus we are constantly dependent on others for creative and progressive things (example: process improvements).
You can not expect growth without having your skin in the game. Efforts, commitment, and a positive direction are certainly needed to gain any positive outcome in work or life.
Today, we will discuss the zones involved in the quest for growth. Knowing the zones is helpful to define clear objectives and catalyze efforts to achieve growth.
Comfort Zone
Fear Zone
Learning Zone
Growth Zone
COMFORT ZONE
This is the preferred zone by most unmotivated people. In the comfort zone, there isn’t much incentive for people to challenge the status quo. They are mostly dependent on others for the innovations and ideas. They work in a routine manner to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk.
“The comfort zone is the great enemy of courage and confidence" - Brian Tracy
A comfort zone gives you the feeling of being safe. You don’t try anything new. Since there is no (or very little) trial with new things, there are few (to none) chances for your failures.
You must understand that failure leads to learning. What holds people back most of the time is their frame of mind rather than any distinct lack of knowledge.
It takes courage to step from the comfort zone into the fear zone. Leaving the comfort zone can produce anxiety due to the uncertainty of what lies ahead and the possibility of an undesirable outcome.
FEAR ZONE
When you try stepping out of your comfort zone, the fear zone usually interrupts your journey to the next level by threatening. The comfort zone still lures you to stay right within it. You must find the right motivation to break these ill-offerings.
Fear of failure, fear of disengagement, fear of conflicts, fear of dependency… all these fears, and more, pushes you to stay in the comfort zone. But the Fear zone is a very important step towards growth.
Being nervous or skeptical or feeling of fear is common and must. Fear is a natural, powerful, and primitive human emotion. Fear helps protect us. It makes us alert to danger and prepares us to deal with it. Understand that fear is not something that we skip over — we have to go through fear to get to change.
“The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.” ― Moliere
Fear forces you to examine the real or imagined barriers that hold you back from reaching the objectives. The barriers include anxiety, inaction, need for control, defensiveness, uncertainty, risks, etc. Use fear as a tool to understand the barriers better.
Once you start your journey for growth, don’t ignore or overlook the fear. Face it. If you prepare yourself to enter this zone, identifying fears will help you identify and understand most questions and grey areas at an earlier stage. Be honest about your excuses. This will give you better pointers to focus on in the next zone - the Learning Zone.
LEARNING ZONE
Learning is an important and unavoidable stage for progress. If your objectives are well aligned with your interests, Learning is more joyful.
If the learning is not joyful and interesting, you may need to take a pause and look at the larger picture one more time… Maybe you are on the wrong path, or you may want to redefine the objectives and/or plans.
When you are in the learning zone, it is assumed that you have your initial questions ready. The way to find the answers is very subjective - could be a straightforward solution, or sometimes turns to be an overwhelming hunt. Dedication and attention is the key.
“knowledge is not free, you must pay attention” - Anonymous
To really be successful you must collect as many pearls of knowledge as possible. You must completely leave the fear zone behind. Trust your abilities. Build confidence. Find challenges and solve them. Learn new things, acquire skills to find more innovative solutions to problems within and outside of your road to success. You will find yourself defining a new comfort zone.
GROWTH ZONE
This is the zone where you always wanted to be, or simply, one of many milestones. In the growth zone, you will apply what you learned and mastered. You will reflect positively. You will help others to come along and build their own path to growth. You start inspiring others. You start leading.
Growth is not a concluding point. It is an inception for a new, more joyful journey.
In the growth zone, you will define new objectives, this time an even more exciting goal. You will find yourself living your own dream.
Remember, your dreams might change as you develop through these zones and you will define new goals whilst conquering others.
HOW TO GET THERE?
Only you can define your path. You may seek help from experts and leaders. But you are the sole owner of the plan, execution, and outcomes.
You must consider the following pointers when you decide to break out of your comfort zone:
Take nothing for granted
Be ready to break your routine
Find the right motivation
Get ready to face the fears
Try something new until you feel comfortable
Ask questions; even if you feel they are dumb
Explore Options
Make a list of growth goals
The first step is always the most important one. Support yourself to leave the comfort zone by prioritizing your goal and taking small steps. Leave the comfort zone by experimenting, accepting your shortfalls, expanding your skill set, and being honest. Once you show the courage to flit out of your comfort zone, you are all set to sail through the plan you prepared.
Prioritize:
Make a clear list of all your personal and professional, also your individual, team, and social growth goals. Use a prioritization technique to rank them in order. Define clear objectives for the higher priority goals. This will help you understand what you wish to achieve.
Small steps:
It is absolutely fine to take small, methodical steps. Every step forward is progress. Every step counts. At the start, it is advised to be more cautious. As you learn more, you may take calculated risks to possibly take bigger and bolder steps.
Experiment:
Try different things or try doing things differently. Give yourself a chance to fail. With every failure, you will learn new things. With every success, you will boost your confidence. Experimenting helps to leave the comfort zone early.
Accept Shortfalls:
There could be a gap between what’s required and what you have. Accepting the shortfalls and deficits is an opportunity to identify the training, learning, and exploration need. This will help to leave the comfort zone soon and also pass the fear zone with better preparation.
Expand skillset:
Expanding your skillset helps prepare a smoother plan to achieve your goals. It promotes creativity and refreshes your self-confidence. This opens up more opportunities than ever.
Be Honest:
Honesty is a catalyst for growth. Honesty forces people out of their comfort zone since it is affiliated with accepting your strengths, weakness, and being transparent about capabilities and key results. Depending on your goals, your audience may differ, but you are always your own examiner. Be honest with yourself.
"Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning." - Benjamin Franklin
These steps will help you get out of the comfort zone and set you on the journey for growth. The path from comfort zone to growth zone is not always linear. It may have unexpected twists and turns. As you progress you may tend to bend or redefine your goals, and sometimes, you may completely change your initial objective and path. You should have a very strong reason to completely diverge from the original objective/goal. Understand that you have invested energy, efforts, and time to start the journey, and these high-priced investments deserve returns.
CONCLUSION, a.k.a. MAGIC HAPPENS IN GROWTH ZONE
Magic happens in the growth zone. Look at the big picture. Once you reach the growth zone, it actually is the new comfort zone for you, but the difference is that this time you are rising and shining. You are more comfortable to face challenges and lead the changes.
Since you have gone through a great iteration to meet your growth goal, you are more confident about your new goals. This is magic. The new comfort is magic. You are now all set to make a better roadmap, build on previous experience(s).
Many people around us don’t know their potential. They don’t focus on the dreams. A few care for dreams without making efforts to achieve them. Being true leaders, we all must make honest efforts towards inspiring others and spread the power of determination. We must make success contagious. Make living-own-dreams contagious.
“Success isn’t magic or hocus-pocus - it’s simply learning how to focus.” - Jack Canfield