Out of The Comfort Zone

It’s nicer to stay put and keep in our comfort zones.

It’s our safety blanket, our sanctuary, our ‘known’ place. The question is whether it’s healthy to stay in our comfort zone all the time (or whether we need to push the button once in a while if we want to be successful).

Alasdair White famously wrote in 2009 of three psychological states (and it’s pretty obvious where we want to be!):

• Comfort zone
• Optimal performance zone
• Danger zone

We learn from others (who aren’t likely to be in OUR comfort zone).

Albert Bandura developed some ideas which have come to be known as social learning theory: we learn by observing and imitating other people. We have seen it in small children since time began.

It’s not just a case of copying and pasting what we see though. We pick up attitudes, perspectives, quick wins and tips that others use as well as the information they give us. Social learning involves purposeful practice, rather than just learning theory. It’s about how something is done as well as what is done.

This implies that if we stay safe in our own little bubble, we miss out on opportunities to learn as educators and leaders.

Trying something new doesn’t have to be catastrophic

If you always teach from the front of the class, out-of-your-comfort-zone might be not using a PowerPoint for one lesson and seeing what that looks like.

If you’ve always taught a certain book in literature that you know back to front, out-of-your-comfort-zone might be finding one from a different culture or in an unfamiliar genre.

If you’ve always assessed using a summative essay question, out-of-your-comfort-zone might be giving students choice on how they present their learning.

If you’ve always managed a meeting with an agenda, timeframes, to-dos and KPIs, out-of-your-comfort-zone might be asking someone else to lead it or even to ask everyone to bring their one thing to discuss — make it about them rather than you.

We expect students to leave their comfort zone; we should too.

We have had to do this at Edufuturists. Cue TikTok. It’s totally out of our comfort zone. We feel too old, too clunky and too boring to get onto this new medium — but out-of-our-comfort-zone is putting content where the people are.

Every time you teach a student something new, you are forcing them out of their comfort zone into your world. You are giving them something unfamiliar and expecting them to be interested and work to understand. Perhaps, just maybe, we might need to do the same as teachers. Optimal performance (not just for performance tables or performance management) is about being your best — young people deserve nothing less.

This post was created with Typeshare