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