Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone for Career Growth

Guest Blogger
Jun 5, 2013

comfort zone


I am not sure if many of you ever feel like the female in the cartoon above but unfortunately, I can relate. More often than not lately, I have been put in or put myself in a position where I have had to step out of my comfort zone.

The term “comfort zone” has been defined by psychologists and behaviorists as:


A behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk.

How old are we when we decide what our “comfort zone” is?  As children, our zone is probably at our home or anywhere our parents are. However, as we grow, learn and experience new things, our comfort zone is continually changing. Everyone, at one time or another, is put in uncomfortable situations. So, is it how you react to that situation that makes you think that was way out of “my comfort zone” and I never want to that again? Or, is the fear of not knowing how you will react in situations that has you thinking I will never do that?

I am sure, as sourcers and recruiters, cold calling for the first time was probably out of most of your comfort zones. For me, I literally got nauseous. Now I know that for most of you, it was not as bad as my experience but I am sure there are certain situations that make you feel like that. But, as with anything, I am sure that the more you did it, the easier it got.

So today, I am challenging each of you. If there is something that you have been wanting to try, then go for it. Don’t let fear and anxiety hold you back. Step out of that comfort zone. You never know what good things may come out of it.

This post was written by Lori Miller. Lori is a Strategic Sourcer with 4 1/2 years of experience working on the Yoh/Syngenta RPO team. Prior to joining Yoh, Lori was with Manpower for 12 years.  She has extensive experience in employee relations, training and staffing with a strong background in recruitment and candidate selection.
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