Don't leave your comfort zone!!!

If you ask yourself how you want your future to be, you might say, "I don't know." What I do know is what I don't want to happen to me. You can say what you like and dislike about your present, and if you think about it, you'll also realize what you liked and disliked about your past. However, it's more than probable that the unknown about what you want for your future remains. In general, from a young age, we are taught a lot of knowledge, but we are not taught to trust ourselves. Believing in yourself and being clear about what you want can be labeled by many as arrogance. 

You have been taught to work hard, make sacrifices, and accept your destiny. Daydreaming is a waste of time." It's unfortunate, because in reality, the way to achieve your goal is to dream of what you want, put an achievement date on it, and then work to achieve it. You can do very well in the future; it all depends on what you believe. The first thing you should do is become aware of some simple concepts, understand them, and put them into practice. Let's start with the concept of the comfort zone. 

What is the comfort zone?

This is the metaphorical zone you are in when you move in an environment you master. In it, things feel familiar and comfortable, whether they are pleasant or not. The brain is lazy and happy in its comfort zone. For example, flying to a familiar airport regularly is being within your comfort zone because it's what you know.

Fly commercial flights in your native language in your home country. It's the comfort zone because it's what you know. That you enjoy or fight with your partner is the comfort zone because it's what you know. Your habits, your routines, your skills, your knowledge, your attitudes, and your behaviors are also part of your comfort zone. Your brain feels safe and in control. Remember, the magic begins outside this zone.

The way to become competent is to leave your comfort zone. Around your comfort zone is your fear zone, where the brain expresses its lack of confidence, finds excuses to move forward, and wants to return to the comfort zone. It's highly affected by opinions of other brains. Others find it frightening to venture beyond their comfort zone, so they confine themselves to it. They consider leaving it a danger. There are people who believe that if they go out of the comfort zone, they won't be able to come back, that the comfort zone disappears. This assumption is false.

What lies beyond our comfort zone?

Once you cross the fear zone, you enter your knowledge and skills zone, also referred to as your learning zone. This is the zone you enter to broaden your vision of the world, and you do it when you learn new languages, travel to unknown countries, have new sensations, enrich your points of view, modify your habits, meet other cultures, or meet new people. It's the zone where you observe, experiment, compare, and learn. In this zone, the brain needs to make an effort to acquire this knowledge and these skills and face and deal with new challenges and problems; however, the brain begins to feel safer and considers that this zone is an extension of the old comfort zone. There are people who are passionate about this and therefore frequent their learning zone.

Beyond your learning zone is what we call the panic zone or the competent zone. Those who never leave their comfort zone often say that it's the zone where very serious things can happen to you, and they don't want you to transit it. It's like, beyond it, the world ends. They usually say, "Don't go out; it's going to be terrible. What if it goes wrong?" But stop, think, and ask yourself, "What if it goes well?”

The latter is only said by those who consider this zone to actually be the magical zone, the zone where wonderful things can happen to you that you don't know yet because you haven't been there yet. It's the zone of outstanding challenges. When we enter the competent zone, we find the purposes of that new knowledge, we can live the realization of our dreams, and we are also ready to face new goals and conquer new objectives. 

So what really happens when you leave your comfort zone?

What happens when you leave is that you extend your comfort and learning zone. Changing does not mean you lose what you had; it means you add. Change is actually development. This might seem like fear of the unknown, but in reality, it's fear of losing—of losing what you have or, even worse, of losing who you are. The next thing you'll need to consider is emotional tension and creative tension. They operate as two opposing forces. The first will pull you back towards your comfort zone, and the second will make you move outwards. To be able to move forward, you will have to ensure that your motivation is victorious over your fears. Therefore, it's your turn to work on emotional tension, and especially the fears that leaving the comfort zone provokes: fear of what others will say, fear of failing, and fear of ridicule and shame. You must recognize them and confront them.

How can we convince our brain to step outside its comfort zone?

If the comfort zone is the one you like the most, the one you are the best in, why not convince your brain to make it bigger, huge, giant? The bigger it is, the safer the brain will be and the better and more satisfied we will feel. You might wonder how to achieve this: by believing in yourself. You are the protagonist of your life. If you do not make your own decisions, others will likely make them for you.

What if you apply for that ground instructor position you always wished to have? By properly managing your fears, your self-esteem will grow, and your optimism will give you a new vision of reality full of opportunities. In this way, you can more effectively choose your objective, clarify what your goal is, and identify a motivating factor that inspires you. Then you will compare your starting point with your destination, and it's easy to feel as if you shrink. It's normal to feel this way; you will become aware of what you still need to learn. It will be useful to remember your origins, your values, and your principles and to reflect on your personal mission in life.

Creative Tension and Emotional Tension

To help you maintain creative tension and not give in to emotional tension, it will be convenient to think about your personal vision: What is beyond my dream? Why do you want to achieve your dream? Once you change your limiting biases, trust yourself and your dream, and know why you're doing it, it's time to act and leave your comfort zone. You will experience the pleasure of learning to pursue your dreams. At first, you may feel incompetent and vulnerable, and you might think that pursuing your dreams is risky. It's okay; you are human, and you don't know everything. You are learning. Congratulations! You are moving towards your dream. To regain your sense of competence, use your personal resources that you undoubtedly have and that you forgot to use in your haste. Remember, don't let the opinion of others affect your confidence. Take what you need, be patient with your preparation, have confidence in your objective, prepare your strategy well, be perseverant and positive, and before you imagine, your vision of yourself will have come true.

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External References

Books

1. Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway - Susan Jeffers.

2. Mindset: The new Psychology of Success - Carol S. Dweck.

3. The Competencies of the Aviation Pilot - Jaime Ferrer