Tigers have Comfort Zones all over the place — anytime, anywhere they want. They also spring into strategic action especially when it counts the most. They wouldn’t be able to do this without their Comfort Zones.
I hear a lot of people say we gotta ‘get out of our Comfort Zones’ like they were bad places to be.
In the High Performance World they’re absolutely useful when you’re continually exploring more of your potentials to up your game and impact. You just gotta know how to make them work for you.
WHAT DO THE ULTRA SUCCESSFUL DO WITH COMFORT ZONES?
Use them as Pit Stops along the way of upping their game and impact
Grow them into their new normals
Here’s the thing — we’re hardwired to learn and grow. Flow states are how we channel and grow our genius. They accelerate business and personal excellence better than anything else.
The 4 Stage Flow State Cycle is one of the concepts at the heart of this.
I’m no ecologist, but I bet there are high correlations between this cycle and the growth — ebb and flow cycles — in the natural world.
Taking a closer look at this cycle will take another post — for now, notice Flow States are preceded by Set Up and Release stages — and are followed by a Recovery stage. Flow States can’t happen without the other 3 stages.
HERE ARE 2 WAYS TO MAKE COMFORT ZONES WORK FOR YOU:
1️⃣ Use them like Pit Stops in between Flow Cycles. Flow States are temporary so when we’re not in them or the Flow Cycle, one place we can hang out in is our Comfort Zones.Consider your Comfort Zones a natural state too— along the way of exploring your potentials and growing your business.
A bonus here is — if we think of growing our excellence and potentials with Flow like a spiral staircase — every time you go through a Flow Cycle and spiral up a level up — your next Comfort Zone ‘Pit Stop’ is also elevated up the spiral from the last one.
😁 Question for you: Consider how your business (and life) would transform — if your Comfort Zones were not about being in states of inertia — but taking Pit Stops to allow yourself to acknowledge and enjoy your accomplishments and how far you’ve come?
2️⃣ Grow them into your New Normals. Get comfortable growing and evolving. Since we’re hardwired to learn, grow and flow — we grow our Comfort Zones too.
Your Current Level of All That You Are — your confidence and capabilities —is your current Comfort Zone — because anything that happens within the frame of this Zone — you know you can handle very well.
Your Current Level of All That You Are — your confidence and capabilities —is your current Comfort Zone — because anything that happens within the frame of this Zone — you know you can handle very well.
The space between where you are now — Current Level — and your next Target Level — is your Growth Zone. In Education, it’s known as The Zone of Proximal Development (Lev Vygotsky).
In Flow Psychology—it’s one of 9 Essential Conditions of Flow States (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi).
Here this optimal growth zone— between where you are now and the immediate thing you want to accomplish — allows you to play full out because the immediate challenge isn’t to hard or too easy. Steven Kotler & Jamie Wheal report that current flow research pegs this sweet spot at 4%.
As you grow your confidence and capabilities — what you know you can handle grows too. And this doesn’t just happen in a linear way. It happens exponentially because as you increasingly play at the top of your game — you set yourself up to play a bigger game.
Your Comfort Zones expand into elevated new normals. This also means Momentum.
😁 Question to Consider: How would your business (and life) transform — if your Comfort Zones were not about being in states of inertia but being in confident, exhilarating, centered, expansive Flow States — taking purposeful actions aligned with your goals, your Whys, and dreams?
Hope this helps pivot your perspective on Comfort Zones and propels your Prosperity!
If you want to learn more…check out my free video training: Get Your High Performance, Flow & Fearless Soul on Speed Dial
