What is the comfort zone and how do you get out of it
[Music]
[Music]
this was me
in march of 2020 giving my first ted
talk
on the outside i look calm and collected
but on the inside
i genuinely thought i was going to die
yeah i know we all get stage fright and
we all get nervous about public speaking
but for me it’s even worse why
i have generalized anxiety disorder
this means that i get super totally
stressed out to the max about
anything and everything that comes into
my life
i really like being in my comfort zone
there were multiple times leading up to
the presentation where i considered
dropping out and avoiding the problem
completely
i just wanted to return to my comfort
zone and get back to that no stress part
of my life
however i knew that going through with
this talk would open doors for me and
for so many others that i never even
knew
existed clearly it worked because here i
am telling you why it’s important for
you to challenge yourself
and get out of your comfort zone if
someone like me who gets nervous at the
thought of getting up in front of the
class and grabbing a tissue can do this
you definitely can okay so i know you’ve
heard of the term comfort zone many
times in your life
but what does it actually mean according
to dr judith bardwick
the comfort zone is a behavioral state
in which someone acts in an anxiety
neutral condition
using a steady level of performance
usually without a sense of risk
in simpler terms if you like how your
life is going
you don’t do anything to change it that
sounds good right
well actually that can be kind of bad
this has to do with something called the
yerkes dodson law
the ux dodson law is a law that studies
the relationship between pressure and
performance
let’s take a look at this bell curve at
the bottom
our x-axis we have arousal aka pressure
and stress
on the side or y-axis we have
performance
basically the york’s dodson law states
that
as pressure increases so does
performance until you reach an
absolute peak of what you’re able to do
any kind of stress or pressure beyond
your peak
will cause your performance to decrease
basically
making you enter a state of exhaustion
let’s go back to the front of this belt
curve
this is what i like to call the comfort
zone of the bell curve
your life is going pretty well you’re
not super stressed about anything
so you’re doing everything at your usual
average level of performance
after spending a certain amount of time
of your life in this low pressure area
you start to get bored when you get
bored
your motivation decreases and your
satisfaction and level of happiness
also decreases basically you do a
reverse
bell curve and you revert back to this
low pressure performance
area of your life okay so you’re like
well that’s cool i can just keep living
my life the way i
am and feel absolutely no stress well
the stress that you’re thinking about is
that sweaty palms
headaches so much to do so little time
stress
here we’re talking about stress in the
more general sense of the word
aka just motivation and your basic
feelings of arousal
this kind of stress can actually
increase
focus motivation and creativity
fostering that self-improvement and
growth
that so many people strive for and this
is the key to exiting your comfort zone
and entering what we’re going to talk
about
the growth zone
here you can see we have the comfort
zone
outside of the comfort zone we have
what’s called the fear zone
oh scary well yes it can be scary but it
doesn’t have to be
and it’s necessary in order to enter the
learning zone
the learning zone is where you start to
get comfortable and your anxiety begins
to decrease
then you can enter the growth zone
the growth zone is where you get
completely comfortable with all the new
things that you have to do
and you become motivated to expand your
comfort zone even further
people who are in their growth zone are
usually more in touch with their
emotions
they’re more aware of their abilities
and what they’re capable of doing
and they generally have a higher quality
of life
that sounds pretty good right that’s why
it’s important for you to challenge
yourself and get out of your comfort
zone
you’re going to be nervous about things
and that is just a natural human
response
it’s what you choose to do with those
nerves that makes the difference
i didn’t want to sit down and let my
anxiety control my life
and stop me from being the best version
of myself
so i took my nerves and channeled them
into helping me become that person
i know so many of you can relate to what
i’m saying and you kind of just need
that
push to help you do that thing that’s
making you nervous
well consider this your push go out
and try that new workout routine get
that new
haircut or even go skydiving if you want
to
you may feel like you’re only making
small steps towards getting out of your
comfort zone
but they still matter you are growing
and you should be proud of that