Which Zone are you in?

A few weeks ago, I attended a Lunch hour session and had to park on the street. When I went to the Pay Machine, I entered the digits of the Zone in the wrong order - so had to recheck it and reenter it. The lady in line after me quipped "It's sometimes difficult to remember the number right." I smiled.

I believe that I had that experience a week before I was going to be prompted to write this post because this story came to mind as I started to write this piece. It is easy to remember numbers and things you are familiar with. Conversely, it takes an effort (sometimes it takes a stretch) to remember numbers and things you are not familiar with (as with the Parking Zone number). If it was my usual Parking Zone, it would be a place I'm 'comfortable' and I would have remembered the number easily...

A lot has been said about the Comfort Zone. It's the place of least risk and resistance and sometimes the place of less "reward" or fulfillment in life. That is not to say that there is something wrong with it. However, we are always capable of doing more than we currently do. I say this carefully because doing more would require you having the right priorities and dropping a few things too.

The way I see it, there are at least 3 Zones we can decide to "park" in (see my picture below)

As we all know, our Comfort Zone is that place where we feel little or no stress due to our familiarity with it. It's also where we lean on the known and are sometimes grounded. The thing to watch out for in this space is the double-edged meaning of being grounded because you could be so stable and settled that before long, you become stagnant and stuck (in a rut). 

If you start feeling stagnant, you can decide to lean forward so you get into a space of learning and growing. This is the space referred to as the Courage Zone. It takes courage to put up your hand and indicate interest in learning something you. I personally believe that if you are not learning, you are not growing - and sadly, if you are not growing - you are "going" i.e. dying/losing relevance.

Just like some people don't jump into the pool with both feet without first checking the temperature of the water, some caution is required as you step into your Courage Zone. The reason is simple. Your Courage Zone is where you are stretched however, if you are not careful, you may be stretched and stressed to a breaking point - and find yourself in the Chaos Zone. 

As elastic, elastic/rubber bands are, they have their breaking point. Similarly, if you allow yourself to be over-stretched and stressed, sooner than later you may snap and lose your relevance - this is the Chaos Zone. Another way people get into the Chaos Zone is by overpromising which is couched in overconfidence in their abilities. Getting into this Zone is sometimes subtle and at other times sudden which is why we need to regularly check which Zone we are parked in. 

As you look at your life with 1/3 of the year to go, which Zone are you parked in? Which Zone do you want or, maybe even, need to move from/to/stay in? Remember, your current Comfort Zone was once your Courage Zone so you can move from you Comfort Zone to a new Courage Zone...

Do you need Coaching on changing your Zone? Contact me: empoweredwomenexcel@gmail.com