“Our fears are always more numerous than our dangers.” — Seneca
We love our comfort zone. It’s a cozy place where we can rest and save energy. You have everything tied up when you are inside; you have that feeling of having control over everything, no surprises, no urgencies… So far so good.
The main problem with this zone is it will stagnate you. When you are inside your comfort zone, you keep doing the same things every time without learning anything new. In an industry like ours, it is critical to keep learning and challenging ourselves with new problems. Don’t mind about your previous experience with a topic, nobody is born wise but try not to make the mistake of beginning something that probably is going to get out of your hands.
I like to think about this as three concentric circles. The inner one is your comfort zone. The middle one is your learning zone; you should stay inside it all the time you can. There is where you will grow, where you will learn new skills, where you will gain experience, and where you will transform yourself. The last circle is your panic zone and it’s the zone you should avoid at all costs; there lies the tasks and challenges that will surpass you by far and trying to accomplish them could make trauma, forcing you to retreat to the comfort zone just to not get out of it in a very long time. What we gain from staying in the learning zone is to expand our comfort zone, pushing the learning zone where the panic zone was before.
Getting out of your comfort zone requires courage and, like a muscle, it can be training. You should start with easy things at first and increase the challenge of the tasks little by little. Try to face different types of tasks or a new programming language, or read about new tendencies in the industry. Attending a hackathon, or going to a local tech conference and talking with people can be good examples too. The idea is to challenge yourself with situations that gradually need more from you. Eventually, you’ll see your panic zone walk away and a new learning zone replace it.
Repeat the process, and keep learning.