Being in perpetual comfort (our ‘comfort zone’) isn’t where we do our best work. The Yerkes–Dodson law, from 1908 and still relevant to this day, shows that our performance rises with a healthy amount of pressure.
It’s only when we embrace the need to constantly evolve that we realise just how much we still have to offer the world, both in our personal and professional lives.
Yet there are still those who think that they have all the answers and that it’s other people who need to change, not them. You probably know someone like this. It's always someone else who is the problem, never them. They resist change and do everything in their power to maintain the status quo.
It’s always a surprise when I see these people in senior leadership positions as they are the antithesis of what progressive, growth-minded organisations need. If you don’t believe in growing yourself, you’re never going to be able to inspire a team to grow a business.
Yet, there is a balance that we must all find. Too little pressure and we coast, too much pressure and we crack. It's not normal - or healthy - for organisations and their managers to push employees so far outside of their comfort zone that they are exposed to never-ending anxiety and stress.
However, employees should expect (and in some instances we insist on) being stretched more. Tasks that don’t come naturally to our personality, deep knowledge that we need to acquire, relationships that need to be built, conversations that need to be had. All of these things should be ‘welcomed’ as part of our individual growth journey, recognising that once they have been completed we are a little more knowledgeable, resilient and courageous than we perhaps were before.
Our best work will always lie between stress and boredom, finding the sweet spot can be the difference between a happy work life and a miserable one.
