Expanding Beyond Your Comfort Zone

         How To Succeed by Expanding Beyond Your Comfort Zone

 Overview

 Have you ever heard that "growth begins outside your comfort zone"? While it sounds cliché, it's not far from the truth. It is easy to stay in our comfort zones, whether ordering the same dish repeatedly or staying in a safe job instead of pursuing our ambitions. According to research, 55% of British people stay completely within their comfort zones, and 31% cannot recall their last new experience.

 It explains why most people prefer to play it safe: knowing how our brains work. Evolution has conditioned us to avoid danger and maintain familiar routines, creating a natural inclination to fit in and avoid straying from the ordinary.

  While there is nothing wrong with staying in our comfort zones, as less stress and more leisure time generally result from doing so, staying there too long can sap our confidence, energy, and motivation. It's, therefore, very important to break the mold. The more we challenge ourselves, the more fulfilling life will be.

‍What advantages come from stepping outside your comfort zone?

 Though discomfort and pressure can be unpleasant, experiencing a degree of stress can actually be advantageous. If we don’t push ourselves to embrace new experiences or meet different people, we risk stagnation, leading to a dull existence.

 At first, stepping out of our comfort zone seems to be a big deal; however, facing that fear allows us to acquire new skills and evolve as individuals. This personal growth nurtures a stronger sense of purpose, clarifies our objectives, and assists us in reaching our goals. Moreover, as we keep challenging ourselves, our comfort zone expands. This development will improve our ability to face unfamiliarity, so we are not easily broken in case of surprise challenges and stress handling. To know more about this topic, click here.

Ways to Expand Your Comfort Zone

 Refocusing on Perspective about Challenges: When there is discomfort, fear, or dissatisfaction, it's natural to call the scenario unwise and walk away from it. This instinct emanates from a protective mechanism the brain develops to protect itself when perceiving threats. Nonetheless, it's crucial to acknowledge that engaging with challenges feels uncomfortable but rich in useful insights to gain when exploring unseen experiences. Here, you can learn strategies that will help support yourself through these transformative times.

Focus on What Matters: There is little point in tolerating discomfort when you do not know what it is for; the point of the experience is to learn something from it. Identify which aspects of your life you need to push the boundaries on. What's to be gained, and is it worth the stress and effort to reach out of your comfort zone? Once you have this, you can create a roadmap to get where you want to be.

 Gradually Stretch Your Comfort Zone:  It is essential to challenge oneself, but equally important not to place excessive pressure on an individual. Stress capacity differs for each individual; some may better manage great change than others. Remember, one mustn't go outside one's comfort zone too much. Excessive pressure often creates anxiety instead of growth.

 Begin by assessing your time in your comfort zone and whether that is holding you back. Is there room for growth in specific areas? If so, take on manageable challenges, even if it means starting small outside your comfort zone, but escalating your efforts over time. Be patient with yourself in this process, and if you catch yourself procrastinating, here are some tips- and always celebrate your victories, no matter how small.  

 How Procrastination Affects Your Well-being & How to Fight Back

 You may then wake up to discover that you've somehow sat at your desk, compiling your to-do list and determinedly planning a tackle. Little sooner than that, you'd perhaps find yourself mindlessly scrolling on your phone, checking those boxes off though while feeling super fulfilled, tough getting started becomes.

Is that you? Quit worrying; no one is spared procrastination occasionally. For some, these experiences are episodic and do not affect them much psychologically. For others, though, a lack of pardon for themselves at the end creates guilt over failing to utilize available time, or they decide that they're just lazy.

 Understanding the causes of procrastination is very important to overcome it. Are we not motivated enough, or is there something else going on?

 Procrastination often ties back to our mood. Our mental health significantly affects how we approach tasks. When experiencing stress, anxiety, or depression, concentrating on anything can be challenging. Simply telling ourselves to 'just do it' can amplify our feelings of being overwhelmed and increase unnecessary stress.

 What is procrastination, exactly?

 Simply defined, procrastination is the deliberate delay of something for which we know that delaying will have awful consequences later. Here is a clear example of home cleaning, which is composed of an essay or a setting of a work conference. Even though putting off a task may be more appealing in the short term, it may increase stress levels in the long run. Although procrastination is quite normal at times, constantly avoiding tasks and letting them accumulate impacts our general health.

What triggers procrastination in us?

There are different reasons why some people procrastinate. Situational is one of the common types of procrastination. People procrastinate due to situational factors, such as fatigue or boredom. Other types of procrastination are rooted in emotional struggle. You might believe you lack capabilities; hence, you avoid trying specific tasks out of fear of failure, or you might be a perfectionist, holding off on a task until you think you can do it impeccably.‍

 Other common causes of procrastination are fear and anxiety. For example, someone who fears talking to people might avoid any task that necessitates interaction with others. Similarly, if the activity prompts one to encounter a particular type of phobia that is dangerous or unpleasant, one would naturally avoid it. Generally, the more anxious we are about an activity, the more we avoid doing it.

 What are the implications of procrastination on our mental health?

 There is a close relationship between procrastination and mental health. Procrastination usually means that there is something wrong with the person, such as anxiety, depression, or low self-esteem. Moreover, the act of procrastinating may heighten feelings of anxiety and negative self-perception. This forms a vicious cycle where procrastination and mental health problems fuel each other, making it difficult to determine which problem started first.

 Our mood plays a large role in how likely we are to procrastinate. In periods of difficulty, we may lose our ability to concentrate on doing things, resulting in delays in completing them. Unfortunately, this also increases stress levels. On top of this, it eliminates the good emotions associated with getting things done; we miss those feelings of victory, achievement, and satisfaction.

 When does procrastination become a problem?

 If procrastination interferes with your life, relationships, or work daily, it's time to find strategies to overcome it. Procrastination is not laziness or a poor time management problem. The problem often goes beyond the inability to start. There could be deeper emotional challenges or irrational beliefs that must be acknowledged and understood.

 Procrastination may be related to emotional challenges. If you procrastinate due to feelings of inadequacy or incompetence or because you're afraid of failure, you could be dealing with a mental illness.

Overcoming procrastination tips

 1. Identify why you procrastinate: If you constantly procrastinate, it might be time to get a mental health checkup. Are there emotional issues you should work on?

2. Create a to-do list: Plan your week or upcoming days. If that feels overwhelming, break your day into segments—morning, afternoon, and evening. Prioritize tasks and set achievable deadlines beside them, being careful not to overload your schedule. Allocating time for your tasks and adjusting as needed can increase the likelihood of completing them. Checking items off your list can produce a sense of accomplishment that motivates ongoing productivity.

‍3. Divide the task into more straightforward steps: When presented with a big workload, such as writing a dissertation or completing home projects, the task can easily confuse you on which step to use next. You should divide the whole task into many phases that you can complete one at a time. This way, the project will be less intimidating, and all the pieces will add up over time.

 4. Obey the five-minute rule: Commit to doing just five minutes of the thing you have been avoiding. Committing to doing five minutes is often easier than doing the whole task. Once five minutes have passed, you will likely find you have made progress, feel connected to the work, and be willing to keep going.

 5. Get rid of the distractions from technology: In a world full of technology, it is easy to get sidetracked by notifications from texts, news alerts, or social media updates. To maintain focus, set aside specific times to turn off the television, place your phone in another room, or temporarily delete your social media apps. Dedicate this time solely to the task at hand.

 6. Reward yourself upon completing tasks: Reward yourself after completing a task by doing something enjoyable, such as watching an episode of your favorite TV show, calling a friend, or taking a walk. You will enjoy these things much more when they are not burdened with the stress of uncompleted tasks.

 7. Seek professional help if you feel overwhelmed: If procrastination interferes with your mental health or you feel like a vicious cycle, it might be helpful to see a professional. A professional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which can help you cope with mental health issues, challenge unhelpful thoughts, and develop helpful coping skills.