‘Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone’ Is A Misleading Advice.

We can always follow a routine that brings nothing productive but discomfort.

In the common, our comfort zone is often being associated with our routines. However, it may be causing confusion between routine and comfort. Routine is simply a scheduled sequence of actions while comfort is a feeling that comes from a sense of security. Following a routine that constantly threatens survival can be filled with discomfort and anxiety from the insecurity. Hence, following a routine may not always be because it is comfortable and, maybe, because it is familiar.

Stagnation happens when familiarity plays with ignorance. For example, a traditional farmer, who has never visited a high tech farm, will continuously use his own farming method, regardless of possible improved methods outside his understanding. Over years of consistent results, it may be difficult for him to adopt a new way of farming with proven improved yield when shown. As the change from the familiar to the unfamiliar invokes a sense of danger of loss of his years of mastery, he will most likely have difficulty changing or may not do so.

Similarly, in the case of interest rates of banks, 4% per year may seem like a catch for some of the common. However, it only seems like a catch only because of the familiarity with the bank’s rate range and the reputation of the bank while not having the knowledge of other trustable sources with higher interest rates than banks. Furthermore, if the interest that other sources are much higher than the banks, it creates skepticism and can be easily be concluded as untrustworthy due to the unfamiliarity with it.

Fortunately, skepticism and unfamiliarity can be easily removed with some effort to understand the structure that makes the unfamiliar possible. Just like an airplane is concluded to be able to fly because the innovators and engineers took the effort to understand the structure that is to be applied for the airplane to fly. Without the act of diving into the unfamiliar to understand, airplanes will be just an imagination.

Nevertheless, discomfort is something the common deal with in their day to day lives. Even though they may constantly repeat similar work every day, they can be filled with fear, anxiety, anger, depression, and/or etc, which is nothing near comfortable. In other words, it means that they are constantly out of their comfort zone.

Thus, in my opinion, it is the preference for familiarity that keeps us away from making our desires, not comfort. In the familiarity of certainty of some cause and effect, we may stay out of the unfamiliar due to the fear of change while, ironically, stay in the discomfort of constantly anxious about making things happen in our favor. Furthermore, to make improvements to our lives, sometimes we need to explore the unfamiliar. Therefore, I strongly believe that rather than “Step out of your comfort zone.”, “Step out of your familiar zone.” may be the appropriate statement.