Visualising your Comfort Zone
“No one likes to move beyond their comfort zone, but as the saying goes, that’s where the magic happens. It’s where we grow, learn, and develop in a way that expands our horizons beyond what we thought was possible.”
-Andy Molinsky
Ever since I started a new job with Bazaarvoice in the middle of a global pandemic, I’ve really started to challenge my comfort zone. I’ve always understood that your comfort zone is something which we can push and extend beyond where this imaginary line lays, although I’ve never fully visualised it and taken the time to really think about how we can train it.
Recently I was looking through my fitness training insights on my Garmin watch, It clicked with me that your heart rate zone and personal growth zones may be treated as two very similar things.
Take your heart rate zone first. Heart rate zones, or HR zones, are a way to monitor how hard you’re training. There are five HR zones based on the intensity of training with regard to your maximum heart rate. It’s also recommended that your training plan should include workouts in all five zones. This HR zones chart shows the level of intensity and percentage of maximum heart rate used in each one.
Heart Rate Zones are unique for every individual, we all have different target zones based on our age, weight and cardiovascular fitness. Then relating this back to your personal growth zones, this depends on your familiarity and life experience, also unique for each individual. I visualise my comfort zone as zone 1/2 (very light or light). Then zone 5 (Maximum level) is when I’ve a higher heart rate, sweaty palms and higher anxiety levels. Much like your HR when exercising, the same activity may be mapped differently for every individual. For example, one person may map public speaking as zone 5 because of how challenging and uncomfortable this activity is for them. However for others, this activity may feel relatively easy and fall within their zone 1.
Since heart rate and personal growth zones may be treated similarly, can we train them in the same way?
I believe the answer to be ‘Yes’. I’ve since started to visually map out within my head how my daily activities place on my own ‘Personal Growth Training chart’. I can see how the same activities have shifted across zones over the last number of months. As I continue to grow into my new role, some activities which I may have initially mapped to zone 5 (Maximum effort for me) have shifted towards my zone 3 (Moderate), proving that my comfort zone is adapting as my familiarity and experience grows. I’ve also made the association that similar to my fitness training, unless I’m actively incorporating some level of maximum or hard performance zone training my individual growth training will also plato.
My challenge for you is to try outline what your personal growth zones are. Work out what pushes your boundaries!
