While watching Roger Federer lose his recent Australian Open semifinal to Raphael Nadal, I was struck by his seeming unwillingness to play the obvious strategy to have the best chance at winning. (The current world number one, Novak Djokovic, showed Federer and the world a successful way to do it last year.)
After the match was over, I thought about how Roger played it. Did he feel by not playing his usual game, there was no joy in playing? Or, was he unwilling to consistently leave his comfort zone, to go into uncharted territory, and perhaps find victory there?
I will never know what was going on in Roger Federer's head. And, it is hard to criticize him due to the level of success he has achieved in his professional life. Thinking about him led me to think about something we all face: examining what it will take to go beyond our current level of success, and how willing we are to do what it takes to get there.
It is all too easy to repeat what for the most part is working. Sometimes, repeating what works is fine. Remember the idiom, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"? That is great advice for a mechanical device. But when it comes to personal growth, staying within the boundaries of "what works" when there is room for improvement is a sure way to stagnation.
Growth requires us to test the boundaries of what is known. It takes willingness to get out of our comfort zone, to look awkward, to make mistakes and by definition, to be uncomfortable and not run away from the discomfort.
One wonderful thing about staying in the discomfort zone is the chance to explore who we think we are. Instead of running on autopilot, being uncomfortable in a new situation allows us to question self-imposed beliefs and limits. We might discover aspects of ourselves that delight and surprise us as we dance on the edge of certainty.
When I was in graduate school, I needed to come up with a significant amount of money to pay my taxes. (How I got in that situation is another story!) The only option I found was a summer job as a quality assurance (QA) engineer for a local high-profile software company. At the time I was a software developer, but I had no experience in the kind of code I needed to write to be successful in this QA job. I figured I could learn this particular coding language in a week.
By luck, I had studied the exact topic that was on the test I took to get the job. I was hired, but I was lost on my first day. I had no idea how to do what they had hired me to do! A fellow consultant noticed my plight and did what he could to coach me, but it wasn't enough. As the days wore on and my confidence sank, I knew I had little time to figure this job out. The prospect of getting fired and failing to pay my taxes filled me with shame.
I strained with everything I had to learn the language by the end of the week. The weekend came, and I had not succeeded. The feeling of dread in my gut that Friday was sickening. The next work day was July 4, so the office was closed. Even though the situation looked bleak, I had no other options to turn to quickly to make a large sum of money. With little confidence, I went into the empty office building along the Charles River in Cambridge, Mass. to give it one last go. As I stared at the computer screen, suddenly everything fell into place. The euphoria and gratitude I experienced in that moment is hard to describe. Even though I did not think I would succeed, my perseverance paid off. I learned a lot about what I was capable of doing under pressure. I have been able to draw on that strength ever since.
As I discovered, there is exhilaration and terror wrapped up in pushing your boundaries. I am eternally grateful that the story I shared had a happy ending. Regardless of success or failure, you can grow when you are willing to go beyond what you know and what is comfortable.
I'd love to hear your experiences of going beyond your comfort zone. I trust that no matter what the result, you learned invaluable lessons that served you well in the years that followed.
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Gabrielle Bernstein: Shift Your Focus From the Frame to the Content
If we could enter into the state of consciousness that we had 20, 30, or 40 years ago, we would probably be shocked by how different we are now. Every now and then life presents us with challenges that push us out of our comfort zones, but I think we can do it ourselves by facing fears and taking even small steps into the discomfort zone. Another way to put it is to live on the edge--the edge of our comfort zone.
I know that if I have to, I can do it again-- but I think you need to differentiate between times when the extra effort will actually get you somewhere, and when it may just get you over something. You and I both learned something: you, a new 'language,' that you could use in your career. Me, just that I was stronger than I thought. But do I want to get sick again to confirm it? Absolutely not. And did that experience of mine have any practical results I could use again? Not unless I want to become a professional patient.
I will grant you one thing, though: I did learn to stand up for myself when I didn't agree with my doctors on certain courses of treatment. There, you are right, because it has carried over to my current life.
When you operate within your comfort zone you can only accomplish and achieve that which you already know. When you are uncomfortable you are entering into a new arena of opportunity. Once you achieve that which was uncomfortable it becomes comfortable and part of your expanded comfort zone!
Here's to the breakthroughs that being uncomfortable bring!
reminded me of this quote by Henry David Thoreau -
"...if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours."
If I have cancer, I am hoping to use it as an opportunity for growth as a human being and as a spiritual being.
Myself, I am very good about pushing myself when I am exercising. I have good pain tolerance and I'm confident in that context. But when it comes to my personal and professional life, I'm less inclined to pain tolerance in the first, and I've had some life experiences that knocked my confidence really hard in the second. I need to think about reapplying myself, and drawing on my natural confidence and drive that I have for exercising so that I can use it elsewhere.
Thank you for this article--it is quite thought-provoking.
I'll look for a comfort zone later in life, maybe much later.
You raise an interesting question, obviously not just about sports but life in general. I have gone beyond my comfort zone and come out the better for it (and grown) many times in my life. Each time though, I felt scared, even terrified, but what was worse than that, was not moving forward and instead, stagnating. Sometimes you don't realize you have started to stagnate until you are already on that path and then it begins to feel so awful that no matter what it takes you'll change your game. Is Roger there now? Only he can say. What I can say is I personally don't want Roger to change his game, I don't care for the way the others play. It will be a sad day when Roger is no longer playing his genius game. Having said that, how selfish is that of me?! But - perhaps even genius has to move or stagnate.