"The comfort zone is the great enemy to creativity; moving beyond it necessitates intuition, which in turn configures new perspectives and conquers fears." -- Dan Stevens, British actor.
Uncomfortable Productivity: Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone for Maximum Effect |
Comfort may be nice when snuggling into bed, but in the workplace it leads to laziness, complacency, and stagnation. To get ahead (much less retain your current place in the line-up), you need to get on the ball and regularly step outside your Comfort Zone. If you don't make what some of my colleagues call "Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals" and enthusiastically reach for the brass ring as it comes around, you'll soon develop an aversion to risk---a crutch that limits both productivity and success.
In the Zone Some observers visualize our working lives as a kind of bull's-eye containing three areas: the central Comfort Zone circle, surrounded by a relatively thin Learning Zone ring and a much wider Panic Zone. You can learn nothing new while in the Comfort Zone; but then again, if you overstep once you emerge, you might become too anxious to learn anything useful. This defines the Panic Zone. Fortunately, you can widen both your Comfort and Learning zones if you move forward carefully and expand your horizons along the way. Here's how:
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1. Pinpoint your zone limits. Even when you think you've moved into your Learning Zone, you may be wrong. Regularly practicing a talent or ability won't necessarily pump your productivity. If you want to become a great poet but stick only with writing iambic pentameter about raindrops and roses, you won't make it far no matter how much verse you churn out. When something becomes too easy, you've bogged down in the Comfort Zone. Challenge yourself. Write some dactylic hexameter about bumblebees and bats for once, just to see what happens.
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The Productivity Workflow Formula Webinar Series |
Join us for this six-part weekly series starting Wednesday, May 29, 2013 What do you do when there's too much to do? Learn Laura's Productivity Workflow Formula (PWF) from her most recent book, What to Do Whren There's Too Much to Do: Reduce Tasks, Increase Results, and Save 90 Minutes a Day (Berrett-Koehler 2012 Each week you'll spend an hour with Laura learning one of the six steps in the PWF.
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Thanks for reading! Make it a productive day.™ |
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All Articles (C) 2013 Laura Stack. All rights reserved. This information may not be distributed, sold, publicly presented, or used in any other manner, except as described below. Permission to reprint all or part of this article in your magazine, e-zine, website, blog, or organization newsletter is hereby GRANTED, provided: (1) The ENTIRE credit line below is present, (2) the website link to www.TheProductivityPro.com is clickable (LIVE), and (3) you send a copy, PDF, link, tearsheet, etc. of the work in which the article is used when published.
This credit line MUST be reprinted in its entirety to use any articles from Laura Stack: (C) 2013 Laura Stack. Laura Stack is America's premier expert in personal productivity. For over 20 years, her speeches and seminars have helped professionals, leaders, teams, and organizations improve output, execute efficiently, and save time at work. She's the author or coauthor of 10 books, most recently, What to Do When There's Too Much to Do. To invite Laura to speak at your next meet or register for her free monthly newsletter, visit www.TheProductivityPro.com. |
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