Comfort Zone- A Trap

Before I start writing, just take a minute to think what a comfort zone really is?

The most probable answer would have been a zone I am comfortable with. Do you realize how with this simple definition you put a limit on what you can achieve? This is when 'time and again' people have shown how there is no limit to what our mind or body can do. Like Henry Ford said, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right”.

I remember what my gym instructor used to tell me. He would to tell me, “If you can lift 15 kgs comfortably then go for 17kgs if you want to make any difference.” To think about it, isn’t it only logical. We can keep reading what we know and we won’t learn anything but only when we read something new we learn something new. Obviously reading is a very simple example but the thought remains the same.

If you ask me, a comfort zone is only a shell created by us. We create this shell because of uncertainty. Uncertainty of getting the results we look for when we do something. If only we are guaranteed "1 crore" rupees regardless of the results, we won’t think twice before leaving our comfort zones. Why do we fail to realize that learning is not a result of “winning” something but of “doing” something. Like Thomas Edison said, "I did not fail; I learned 999 ways of how not to make a light bulb."

So why are we so risk averse at the time of our life which is the best chance to take risks. A time when we have matured and yet do not have all the worldly responsibilities. Knowing the outcome beforehand will never be possible. It’s the simple risk return trade off. We cannot keep preparing and leave our comfort zone only when results will be guaranteed, as it will never happen.  There is a saying that, “Preparation can take us only so far, we must then take a few leaps of faith.” So we need to believe, we need to have faith and then put in our best effort. Whether or not we get the result is secondary. In the process of failing it self we learn much more than we could have imagined.  In fact, I feel, failure many times acts like a spring to success. It takes you down a little, teaches you a lot, and plunges you back to success.

We are a result of our own choices. So we can choose to stay in a shell, safe and secure, or we could break the shackles, lose our selves only to find a greater control.