Stay or step out of your comfort zone?
Stepping out of our comfort zone means embracing change and making ourselves different. It’s something that everyone experiences or will experience at least once in their life. For example, we may go from being a student to a working professional, or from being single to becoming a parent. However, stepping out of our comfort zone is not an easy thing.
The topic started from my personal experience. In the past 3 years, many people including me suffered from the restricted quarantine policy in my home country and the pandemic made me realise that our life can be changed completely in one night, and we should do something to catch up with the changing world. 3 years ago, I seized an opportunity to get a higher position in other city by in the same organization I worked, then I first decided to step out of my comfort zone after I graduated from MSc in UK, and moved from the city I called “home town” to another city to start my new life and my career. And 3 years later, I made decision to step out of my comfort zone again. I quitted my job from Hong Kong Trade Development Council, which I worked for 10 years and came to London to study the creative industy which is quite a new and challenging course for me. I can still remeber every step I took, I felt very excited and curious. And once made the decision, I would be determined to do that. And as predicted, everytime, when exploring the new comfort zone, I would also feel stressed, anxious because too much uncertainties during the process. Stepping out of comfort zone is not an easy thing.
Can it be easier to step out of our comfort zone, and can I understand more through this project?
Primary Research
In this project, I conducted questionnaire and interviews as primary research to collect the information to understand and prove nervous, anxious are common emotions of individuals when stepping out of comfort zone. But once you got out of the comfort zone successfully, relieved, proud, positive, and motivated emotions are coming.
Then I narrowed down the target audiences who step out of their career comfort zone and conducted 2 interviews with 2 individuals, one who is currently experiencing the challenge of stepping out of her comfort zone (she was forced to find a new job in a new city but still work in the same industry as before), and the other who has already stepped out of the comfort zone and now feels confortable with the new career path (she considered and prepared to step out of her career comfort zone for a long time, finally in last year, she got the offer of new company and now working in the different fileld but similar title as before. she thought government relation is still her strength and she just wants to shift in different industry and learns more new knowledge and gains more experience.)
Secondary Research
It takes courage to step from the comfort zone into the fear zone. Without a clear roadmap, there’s no way to build on previous experiences. This can be anxiety provoking. Yet persevere long enough, and you enter the learning zone, where you gain new skills and deal with challenges resourcefully.
After a learning period, a new comfort zone is created, expanding one’s ability to reach even greater heights. This is what it means to be in the growth zone.
Page, O. (2020) How to Leave your Comfort Zone and Enter your ‘Growth Zone’
Reference list
Biswas, S.K. (2020) Can You Grow In Your Comfort Zone?, Live Your Life On Purpose. Available at: https://medium.com/live-your-life-on-purpose/can-you-grow-in-your-comfort-zone-884a26f7b96c (Accessed: 14 April 2023).
Dartnell, A. (2021) How to Expand Your Comfort Zone to Achieve Your Goals, Alice Dartnell. Available at: https://alicedartnell.com/blog/how-to-expand-your-comfort-zone-to-achieve-your-goals/ (Accessed: 11 April 2023).
Kiknadze, N.C. and Leary, M.R. (2021) ‘Comfort zone orientation: Individual differences in the motivation to move beyond one’s comfort zone’, Personality and Individual Differences, 181(Volume 181, October 2021, 111024), p. 111024. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111024.
Kuster, E. (no date) Don’t Leave Your Comfort Zone, Expand It, WebMD. Available at: https://www.webmd.com/balance/features/expand-your-comfort-zone#:~:text=When%20you%20have%20a%20large (Accessed: 11 April 2023).
Leadership Lessons with Ginni Rometty – Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone (no date) www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJpOLqw4JRA (Accessed: 16 April 2023).
Page, O. (2020) How to Leave your Comfort Zone and Enter your ‘Growth Zone’, PositivePsychology.com. Available at: https://positivepsychology.com/comfort-zone/ (Accessed: 10 April 2023).
Reyes, M.A. (2021) The Problem of Cultural Comfort Zones, Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/ar-che-type/the-problem-of-cultural-comfort-zones-cd54dc077738 (Accessed: 12 April 2023).
Russo-Netzer, P. and Cohen, G.L. (2022) ‘“If you’re uncomfortable, go outside your comfort zone”: A novel behavioral “stretch” intervention supports the well-being of unhappy people’, The Journal of Positive Psychology, pp. 1–17. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2022.2036794.