This week, we’re discussing comfort zones. This is a phrase coined by a business consultant called Alasdair White who described it as: “a psychological state in which things feel familiar to a person, and they are at ease, and in control of their environment, experiencing low levels of anxiety and stress. In this zone, a steady level of performance is possible.”

That doesn’t sound too bad does it? But psychologist Robert Yerkes suggested that to perform at our best we need to be in a state of what he called ‘optimal anxiety.’ Too anxious and our performance goes down, but it seems that we are at our most creative when we are just outside of what is comfortable for us.

This week, we discuss these ideas and debate whether it’s necessary to stay comfortable and safe in some areas so that we can be brave and bold in others. We also offer some questions you can use to determine whether you are working at ‘optimal anxiety’ or whether you are holding yourself back. Those questions are:

What areas are your comfort zones? Is this where I want to be?
How am I feeling about this? (What beliefs are holding me in this energy space?)
Where might a risk it take me? (Long-term benefit)
Where am I over-complicating this? (how could I make it easy?)