"It's important to push you out of your comfort zone."
People use this buzzword as a convenient way of staying in their own comfort zone by arbitrarily giving you a new "challenge" that is in some way a divergence from your neatly packaged skill set.
That's easy to do. "You are good at this. Now go do something else. Start over. Expand. " Newness for the sake of newness is almost always invigorating. But newness is temporary. It's not enough standing on its own. Personal growth achieved by tackling something new is only incremental.
To me, the comfort zone is a place where you execute within your skill set in an environment or assignment devoid of passion or commitment.
I have never stayed in my comfort zone for more than 5 minutes. I don't need to be pushed out of it. As soon as I find myself there, it is instant intellectual death in the form of boredom. Call it a character weakness or lack of discipline, but to me there is nothing that brings on the onslaught of productivity paralysis faster than boredom.
Work must be meaningful. We ask each other "What do you do for a living?" not "What do you do for a working?" If you answer that question with pride and energy, your work is meaningful to you. If you answer it with trepidation, embarrassment , dread, excuses, or apologies, well, you're probably sitting square in the middle of your comfort zone. What could be more uncomfortable?
Our skillsets should be compiled. If your expertise results in the death of passion, it is your responsibility to answer the "what next?" question yourself. This requires digging, getting muddy. It requires bravery. We need each others bravery. Your competence and skill set and the soft skills you learned along the way become sort of a metaphor that is transferable to something else-the next thing. And I bet for most people, the digging reveals the core of who we are--we get to know ourselves in these moments. If we can accept ourselves as who we are, I think that is really empowering: "This is who I am. This is what I have to offer. Bring it on."
The ideal career path is one where competence is equalled or, better yet, surpassed by passion, commitment, desire, drive, and vision. And these are things that can't be well explained on a resume or CV. These attributes are not tangible, cannot be measured or quantified. The ROI cannot be immediately measured. But where would we be without these attributes? They must be cultivated and accommodated--not recklessly, but harnessed toward making a vision come to life.
It is here where those who push us out of our comfort zone must experience an equal and opposite reaction where necessary. And if you are being pushed toward newness, envision yourself where you are going to end up when the newness fades. It is a flicker of incremental growth that flames out as soon as a task or commitment is checked off a list? Or is it the spark that launches a rocket? Mission accomplished? Or Mission?
The comfort zone is the wrong way of looking at things. One must be encouraged not to leave the comfort zone, but to stay in the passion zone.
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