SOWPub Small Business Forums - Back to comfort zones

Thanks Erik - great find!

Here's a key passage from that article....

Graeme had us imagine that we are surrounded by three concentric circles. Around our feet was our personal Comfort Zone. Outside that by a couple of feet was our Stretch Zone. Finally, a couple of feet outside this was our Panic Zone.

'Imagine that everything you're familiar with is within your Comfort zone. Such as travelling to and from work, doing familiar everyday things, etc. Now consider things that you do but are not so comfortable with. Things you are either awkward with or are somewhat apprehensive of. These fall within your Stretch Zone. Things that you believe you could not possibly do are in your Panic Zone.'

Your Comfort Zone is just that – comfortable. But if you stay within your comfort zone you never develop or learn. That only occurs when you move briefly into Stretch and return to Comfort. Soon what was in Stretch becomes comfortable and then you find a new stretch. But you avoid the Panic Zone. Moving in there simply causes severe fear and can put you off stretching for long periods.

I agree with this - that often the best way to make sure you keep progressing is to keep stretching into your "stretch zone". That way, things never really get uncomfortable - and it can even be exhilirating!

Plus, if you do this regularly - you'll know that you're always growing, always improving yourself, always moving forward.

However.... Sometimes, it can be helpful to jump into the "panic zone" - though I agree it's not for everyone.

I like to think of jumping into the "panic zone" as the "sink or swim" approach.... That is, jump in all the way, and start paddling like crazy. Then, you'll either sink or swim....

In Sun Tzu's book "The Art of War", he says that
"At the critical moment, the leader of an army acts like one who has climbed up a height and then kicks away the ladder behind him"
and that
"He burns his boats and breaks his cooking pots".
This means that he doesn't allow himself a way out EXCEPT by going forward and succeeding. At first, this seems really stupid. However, the benefit of this is that it FORCES you to focus on the important task at hand which you need to succeed. There's no excuse for failure. Admittedly, this is NOT always wise or the best thing to do, but it sometimes does work....

In my own approach to business, I did the stretch zone thing first.... I had a job, and part-time I had my little web site I was running (Entrepreneur-Web). I made a little bit of money from it, but not very much.

Anyhow, there came a time when I decided to "sink or swim".... So my job ended, and I decided to jump in the water and "paddle" for all I was worth! I had enough cash reserves and investments to support myself for a couple years if I needed to (as long as I lived very frugally) - so I knew I wasn't going to starve, at least not for a couple of years! That's when I approached Gordon, and together we started Sowpub.com ....

Anyhow, I think the "sink or swim" approach can be beneficial as well - though admittedly it's not for everyone....

Thanks Erik - this is great stuff. :)

- Dien

> I'm doing some reading for a post I'm
> getting ready and I found this. Reminded me
> of a discussion about getting out of comfort
> zones on this board a little while ago.

>
> http://www.nlp-now.co.uk/comfort_stretch_panic.htm
> Stretching, growing. Sure, I could go for
> some of that.

> Success,

> Erik Lukas