Podcast: Grow Your Comfort Zone

Welcome to the Habit Coach, India's most loved Health and Wellness podcast, brought to you by Aditya Birla Capital.Hello and welcome to the Habit coach podcast - The bite sized podcast for quick and easy actionable habits. Remember, great habits create that awesome life. I am Ashtin Doctor, your Habit Coach.Today's fun fact of the day has to do with comfort zones. Did you know that comfort zones are a real thing and they have been studied by scientists back in 1908? Psychologists Roberts M Yerkes and John D Dodson conducted experiments on the comfort zone. They showed that when subjects were in a state of being comfortable their performance stayed the same.It did not improve over time or reduce. Then they discovered that in order for a subject to work at maximum capacity there had to be a little stress added. And this state of anxiety is what was needed to push out a better performance. This state was later called ‘optimal anxiety’.Why optimal? Because too much, and the performance would drop. So there was this sweet spot for growth. There are many many studies that look at this optimal anxiety thought in different ways. One such way is to think about what happens if you push too much? Go way beyond your comfort zone and if you push too much and fail, you might get into the belief system that leaving your comfort zone is a bad thing and hence you will never leave.That one bad experience will set you up for a lifetime of fear. Remember, when you do something new chances are you will fail or you wont be great at it. All you have to do is listen to my first few podcasts to get an understanding of what I mean. I remember the podcast introduction, the show that is called ‘episode zero’, took me about 45 minutes to record just 4 minutes. I was so nervous, I had these earphones on that made me hear my own voice! It was all so weird! But now, it's a different story.But if you stay in your comfort zone you will never grow. You will never change and you'll never be able to live to the fullest. You will never be able to achieve things that you are truly proud of. There has to be fear and it has to scare you a little bit. And as your habit coach I want you to be free from as many fears as possible.So at this point we must all agree that challenging the boundaries of your comfort zones is a good idea. The benefits are huge, you become a better person, you grow as a person, you are more calm and confident in new situations, you find it easy to deal with unexpected changes and events. And just like a muscle your ability to push the boundaries become stronger. And by now your experience would have skyrocketed. You will find your creativity becomes better as well.Now let's look at the other side. Having said all this, there is a reason to stay within your comfort zone too, because that is where you can relax. That is where you can actually recover and drop your guard. No fear remains in the comfort zone. It's a chilled place Yo! So clearly we need to mix both worlds. The best way of doing this is to not just challenge and push yourself outside your comfort zone but to expand and grow your comfort zone. This is where the magic happens.Things that once seemed impossible and scary now appear to be easy and peaceful. From taking 45 minutes to record 1 episode I now record 4 episodes in 1 hour. I feel more confident, I feel like exploring different ways of communicating. I am now myself behind the microphone which means I don't have to break out of my comfort zone every time I have to record. It is now a place where I feel comfortable and relaxed. Whereas, 6 months ago I was a nervous wreck.Think about it like this. When you travel to a new city, the first day is always scary. By the fifth day you are a champ. That's an example of how your comfort zone grew. I want you to grow your comfort zone like crazy. I want you to go bananas. Slowly-slowly keep expanding it. Be ok and willing to taste failure but keep trying.So your simple habits to step out of your comfort zone is to do things that make you uncomfortable. Identify things that you feel uncomfortable with and try it out. Start by taking a cold shower if you have never done that. Try going one day without watching TV. Join a dance class. Try singing. Try not eating for 24 hours. In fact, there is so much on the habit coach podcast that will make you step outside your comfort zone. Try it all. Remember, the goal is not to live outside your comfort zone as much as it is to grow your comfort zone.Thank you for listening. We will see you next week. The special series of the curated episodes of the habit coach podcast, India's most loved health and wellness podcasts brought to you by Aditya Birla Capital, in partnership with IVM podcasts.

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