Growing outside your comfort zone is outdated! Grow inside the comfort zone

In 1991 when the danger of the comfort zone was popularised in the book: Danger in the Comfort Zone, management consultant and author Judith Bardwick talked about how, the comfort zone is a behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, providing a steady level of performance, without a sense of risk.

And later, Brené Brown described it as "Where our uncertainty, scarcity and vulnerability are minimized—where we believe we'll have access to enough love, food, talent, time, admiration. Where we feel we have some control."

And Merriam-Webster defines the comfort zone as, “the level at which one functions with ease and familiarity”.

I don’t know about you, but an anxiety-neutral condition, where scarcity and vulnerability are minimized, and where we have plenty of food, time, love, admiration and even a sense of control, where a steady level of performance is provided, sounds rather fantastic to me!

How in the world did this state of being become a problem? How did it become something to consistently leave and at times be ashamed of being in? Why would we ever want to leave it at all?!

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Send Adam an email at podcast@adamkawalec.com or chat with him on WhatsApp📲

If you're interested in chatting with Adam about stress, performance, change or life, and would like to perhaps be featured in his upcoming book, Inside the Comfort Zone, reach out at any of the above channels.

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Music and sound effects used in the episode, from Uppbeat.com (free for creatives):

Artist: Soundroll
Song: Business As Usual:
https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/business-as-usual
License code: 3V1SGI9L5TKNCUZK

Artist: Albert Behar
Song: Priceless Moments
https://uppbeat.io/t/albert-behar/priceless-moments
License code: UTR4EG4CBPBPS2VP

Artist: Hartzmann
Song: The Heartbeat Of The Universe
https://uppbeat.io/t/hartzmann/the-heartbeat-of-the-universe
License code: VEXCBCFJOBCXQLON

Artist: Danijel Zambo
Song: Fairytales
https://uppbeat.io/t/danijel-zambo/fairytales
License code: NC7EOFCVGFNW84IC

Artist: Prigida
Song: Sunkissed
https://uppbeat.io/t/prigida/sunkissed
License code: UYSFRWRLFWJO6JZU