How Your Comfort Zone Is Holding You Back

Your comfort zone, though a self-created, arbitrary concept, often limits personal growth and potential. By recognizing its fluidity, you can redefine and expand it, trading unfulfilling habits for invigorating experiences. This shift challenges traditional boundaries and fosters new skills, resilience, and enjoyment in life. Why not break free and redefine what makes you comfortable?

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last updated: July 23, 2024

We all have and probably need a comfort zone. It’s a natural consequence of getting good at things.

But can your comfort zone be a barrier to growth? What are the consequences of never moving outside of your comfort zone, and what are the consequences if you do?

Let’s explore these questions so you can see whether your comfort zone is holding you back.

Whence Cometh Zones?

We find the notion of zones to be useful: time zones, school zones, hospital zones, and so on. These zones are typically human constructs, devised for convenience, safety, or structural organization.

Let’s consider the most ubiquitous of zones, the time zone. Some countries are physically almost but not entirely in one established time zone.

They may collectively opt to break the “rule” that a time zone must be between this longitude and that one. Convenience trumps regularity in this case, as they just choose to operate as a country in a single time zone.

While you aren’t a country, you may choose to stretch or even redefine zones in your own world.

In the Zone

Don’t you love to be “in the zone”? For that reason, our all-time favorite has got to be the Comfort Zone. It’s the place where you are always cozy and safe, familiar and carefree.

Conveniently (he opines cynically), a comfort zone has a different set of rules from every other kind of zone. Unlike other zones, a comfort zone doesn’t require any formal agreement.

In fact, there’s often disagreement about what constitutes one.

While you might find roller coasters thrilling, someone else might find them unsettling. We get to exercise our peculiar preferences when shaping our very personal comfort zones.

Consider these facts about comfort zones:

  • There is no consensus on what should or shouldn’t be in one
  • Individual choices shape comfort zones
  • There are no set criteria for what defines a comfort zone

Challenge the Zone

This means you have full control over what you include or exclude from your comfort zone. You might find this statement challenging. After all, a feeling to seek protection usually (and appropriately) shows up even before thought.

Feelings of this kind are not easily dismissed. But such feelings can be, at the very least, questioned and examined.

I am sure you can think of other examples where someone’s (even your own) comfort zone has obvious flaws. So the question is, why cling to things that hinder you or create problems?

Why hang on to comforting habits like, say, immoderate ice cream consumption or settling for a mundane job?

No one is born with a comfort zone. We all manufactured our very own, either on purpose or, more likely, by default.

Cut yourself some slack for this, at the beginning you had no wise guidance whatsoever and that’s when you set the foundation. You once crafted a comfort zone that made ice cream overindulgence possible, but now you can redesign it.

It’s Not An Emergency

Do you need to circle the wagons every time you are uncomfortable? Do you know your tolerable limits for discomfort? Sometimes it is a very inaccurate line you have drawn. 

A lot of good things happen on the other side of that line—discovery, new capabilities, new confidence, surprise, and occasionally delight. It’s not automatically the existential disaster it purports itself to be.

What If It Was Never Real?

In truth, there is no such thing as a comfort zone. We made it all up from the start. Still, it’s a useful construct. Recognizing its arbitrary roots, now consider your present comfort zone is free to be rebooted at any moment. 

Instead of defaulting to homely yet unfulfilling habits, why not opt for activities that truly invigorate you? Swap mindless doomscrolling with a productive writing session or trade unhealthy snacks for a refreshing outdoor adventure. Your comfort is defined by your choices.

You can also challenge what’s traditionally been in your comfort zone. Perhaps excessive social media use or unhealthy eating habits no longer serve you well. (Did they ever, really?) It’s within your power to redefine your boundaries.

In and Out

Some of us could add to our comfort zone, and some of us could subtract. Realistically, you might do both. Do you hate to read? Too bad, buy a book and read it. Then, assess whether reading was, in fact, too painful to bear.

Are you comfortable having Cheetos and Mountain Dew for dinner? Start associating that with your love handles or muffin top and see how favorable it looks.

Would it really be so much work to grab a bag of frozen broccoli florets, toss them in a bowl with some olive oil, ground black pepper, thyme, and good-quality salt, then dump them in a baking dish to put under the broiler for 15 minutes? (Enjoy the free recipe.) Voila! Instant new comfort zone.

Language To The Rescue

This is one of those times when words matter. Do you choose to focus on the familiarity of your preferred junk food or, rather, the way it almost immediately makes you sluggish?

Do you grasp at the dopamine hit of clicking a link or note the oppressive control it appears to have over you? I am not suggesting you vilify or shame yourself.

But there is nothing wrong with recognizing the psychologically addictive nature of today’s marketing machines and social media engines and the self-talk these monoliths spawn. 

Embracing new behaviors may initially feel uncomfortable, but it’s just a matter of breaking old habits. Why confine yourself to a narrow comfort zone when you can expand into a realm of less limitation?

Remember, you are the architect of your comfort zone. Why not create something vast, magnificent, and dynamic?

Share your journey of expanding your comfort zone in the comments below.

Kenneth is the founder of the executive coaching firm Vera Claritas where he works with founders of successful startups eager to grow to the next level. He is director of the Life Science Marketing Society as well as a board member for Bitesize Bio.

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