Quotes Challenge #3 : Staying Wary of the Comfort Zone!

Through one of my friends at work, I got to know about a particular team. I was told that the nature of work was quite interesting and was not as hectic when compared to the other teams. The timings were set and there was hardly a need to stretch beyond the schedule or work on weekends for that matter.

I thought this was such an ideal team to work in. You tell people in IT that they don’t have to work for long hours or work on weekends and I’m sure you’d see them all charged up and happy like a child with a candy. One possible disadvantage was that, there was considerable process work (popularly known as excel sheet work) apart from the actual work. Why I am calling it a disadvantage is because 1. It is boring and 2. Once you start with one set of process work, you get absorbed into more and more of it. Finally 2 years later if you tell people you were working on excel sheets (at a relatively lower position in the corporate hierarchy) you aren’t considered a good resource.

So my friend was in one such team and post the initial honeymoon period of a year and a half, she began to get restless. She was bored with doing the same thing over and again and came to know that she would still be doing the same thing a few years down the lane. She decided it was time to move. She was initially hesitant as she loved the routine and it gave her time to concentrate on her music and it was all going on smoothly. But after a few weeks of contemplation, she decided she was not going to give comfort and familiarity as an excuse to get stuck at a point without future prospects.

How many of us have been in such situations? We have a routine, we might hate it but there is something comforting about not being overly surprised every day. When we realize we’re hitting a dead-end, we look at how comfortable the routine is and how our schedule is set and how things might not be the same if we opted for a change. How many of us have had to sacrifice good opportunities (not just regarding work) just because we were scared to come out of the comfort zone. How many times have we held back because, as much as we wanted change we thought we wouldn’t be able to handle it. But wait, who comes to live knowing every detail? Aren’t we supposed to learn on the go?

If things are going on fine, you probably might not have to worry about moving on. But if they aren’t, and you are too comfortable with the current setup, remember – Life begins at the end of our comfort zone. So go out, explore and make mistakes (but don’t be reckless). We are here for that. We aren’t perfect and that’s absolutely fine. What fun it is if things go well all the time, when do we get to learn!

Have you been in any such situation where you were forced to or voluntarily came out of your comfort zone? Do share your thoughts.

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