DISCOMFORT in a situation arises from novelty and a sense of being lost in a maze. The required skill sets demanded by a new challenge are not readily available. It’s not always as simple as figuring out how a new phone works.
Even a promotion, like being designated CEO, can seem like being thrown into stormy waters without a life vest. The new job seems so much harder than the old one, even if the boss is the same. The only difference is a better car and a bigger paycheck. Along with those are new problems brought about by subordinates who used to be equals.
What happened to the feeling of familiarity and comfort?
The phrase “comfort zone” is a scientific term that refers to an equilibrium state where the body neither sweats nor shivers, a temperature estimated to be between 28 to 30 degrees centigrade. This neither-hot-nor-cold state (also known as the Goldilocks situation, with the porridge) can be too comfortable.
In corporate life, the comfort zone is a combination of routine, sense of belonging (the coffee is brought in when you get to the office), confidence (you have access to the executive elevator), and an in-box or e-mail with no surprises. One is master of his fate. Discussions are comprehensible. Problems have precedents and been solved before. Phrases and statistics make sense without having to google anything. There are rules of thumb (or heuristics) one is familiar with. The targets are achievable, if not already surpassed a week before budget presentations. And the people around the table are not out to make one look incompetent.
Working from home has upended that routine — why don’t you get your own coffee?
But while affliction is not exactly desired, the state of not perspiring and not shivering is far from being a real goal. The ambitions of early life are simple. Still, eventually owning a car and a home free of mortgage in a gated community become just steps to ever higher goals.
Anything that jolts the equilibrium must be defended against. Leaving one’s comfort zone is seldom a self-initiated move to try something new. Thus, moving to a new job or early retirement, after a long and secure tenure in a comfortable position where one seemed to be doing well, is sure to bring up the blood pressure.
Equilibrium, and the comfort it provides, are often temporary. Even in nature, fledglings with newly acquired feathers need to be pushed out of their comfortable nest to try flying after just comfortably lying around and being fed worms in a warm spot of interlocking twigs. So, being pushed out of a comfort zone, even by those who do not consider your well-being can be a blessing in disguise. After a momentary sense of confusion, the new state (accompanied by a sense of falling) can lead to flight. Or, it can also end in a loud thud being the last sound heard before losing consciousness.
Boredom in the comfort zone takes different forms sometimes referred to as “mid-life crisis.” Usually, in one’s late 40s after realizing childish dreams or accepting that they need to be scaled down. It is in this mid-life period (more than halfway through life) that wild things happen — he seemed so successful and then he bought a food franchise and ran off with his chicken supplier.
In politics, there are no comfort zones.
The landscape keeps changing. Political parties are snatched from their former founders, and then left empty. Stand-ins are assigned for last-minute substitutions. Even the substitutes that take over can decide to quit before the game starts. And a whole patronage system is bereft of a leader (and patron). PR companies handling the substitutes or quitters need to look for new sources of revenue. What about the billboards that have already been paid for? They still go up singing the praises of somebody who has already left the party.
Is it still possible to achieve comfort in a time of upheaval?
It’s good to emulate the stoics who hold that we cannot manage what happens to us; we can only control how we react to it. The comfort zone should be within us. The sense of safety and familiarity can require managing our expectations and absorbing the fallout of a bad turn of events.
The comfort zone is still there. It’s just a smaller place.
Tony Samson is chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda
