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Hey bud,

Have you ever felt so contented to the point that you eventually got too lazy to take any more action?

“I’m fine as I am, I don’t need to change anything.”

“It’s comfortable here, why would I want to go out there?”

“I’ve achieved my goals already, there’s no point in achieving more.”

If you say something similar to yourself BUT you know deep down that you want to experience more in your life, then you need to hear this:

You are LYING to yourself. And it’s keeping you stuck.

You’ve trapped yourself in your comfort zone, like a frog put in lukewarm water that was slowly being heated up.

It’s nice and comfortable at first as the heat slowly rises. And the frog is warm and cozy until the water becomes boiling hot, then it’s too late for it to jump out.

If the water in the frog analogy is constantly heating up, then your comfort zone is always shrinking — especially when you don’t do anything about it.

It will continue to get smaller and harder to escape.

Here’s some good news. It’s not too late for you.

AND, you don’t even need to leave your comfort zone per se.

Now, you might be thinking:

“What?? I thought that I had to go outside my comfort zone to reach my goals!”

Well, yes that IS one option, but there’s another.

Taking the effort to venture and lean just beyond the edge of it, until your comfort zone grows and you can journey further.

You see, the comfort zone is demonized in the online self-improvement space. So don’t be surprised if the motivational videos or posts that you’ve seen has said that being in your comfort zone is a bad thing.

Things aren’t as black and white as:

Inside Comfort Zone = Bad

Outside Comfort Zone = Good

There’s nuance to it which we will explore in this letter.

By learning how to lean just at the edge of your comfort zone (instead of venturing completely beyond it) you will be able to:

• Make consistent progress towards your goals

• Grow yourself personally and professionally

• Increase your resilience

• Boost your self-esteem

• Develop your self-confidence

Now, these aren’t new ideas I’m sharing with you.

But as humans we tend to forget things.

We need to be reminded more than we need to be taught new things.

In this week’s letter, we’ll dive deep on the 4 zones within the comfort zone, and the relationship between the comfort zone and what is good for you.

Let’s get into it.

The 4 Zones within the Comfort Zone

Within and at the edge of the comfort zone, there are 4 zones you need to know:

1. The Familiar Zone
   This is the conventional “comfort zone.” This is where you feel safe and in control, where there is low risk to taking action within it (and also low reward). I’m choosing to call it the familiar zone because it is what we’re familiar with. When we stay too long inside this zone without doing anything, it starts to shrink and it starts to become uncomfortable.
   
   

2. The Fear Zone
   This is the roadblock that keeps us inside the very center of our comfort zone (1st zone). This is where we experience low self-confidence, find excuses, and where we are affected by others’ opinions. We have two choices when we are in this zone. The first is to adopt a fixed mindset and go back to our familiar zone. The second is to adopt a growth mindset and move forward towards the edge of our comfort zone.
   

   (You can read more about fixed and growth mindset in one of my previous letters — #008 The Mindset Advantage)
   
   

3. The Learning Zone
   This is the zone you enter when you’ve adopted a growth mindset. Here you are able to face challenges, solve your own problems, acquire new skills, and eventually grow your comfort zone. This is the edge of your comfort zone. You just need to venture towards this part of the comfort zone each day at least once in order to grow the comfort zone.
   
   

4. The Winning Zone
   Venture towards the learning zone (3rd zone) regularly and you will have access to this winning zone. This is where you are able to conquer objectives, set new goals, live your purpose, and experience your dreams.
   

The winning zone is what awaits you when you intentionally grow your comfort zone by venturing regularly towards its edge.

And eventually, this becomes your new familiar zone (1st zone). Success becomes your comfort zone and it becomes effortless.

The Comfort Zone and What’s Good For You

As we went over in the previous section, things at the very center of your comfort zone (your familiar zone) are easy to do. It takes very little effort or mental resistance to do those things.

Sometimes, you don’t even need to think about doing it before doing it.

An example of this is brushing your teeth. It takes very little effort to go to the bathroom and brush your teeth.

Another example is ordering fast food. It’s very easy to do and there’s no mental resistance in doing that.

Compare this to the things that are further away from your familiar zone.

The further away from your familiar zone something is, the more mental resistance you have towards doing it.

An example of this is if you were invited to speak in front of a live audience of 10,000 people tomorrow.

Or if you were invited to bungee jump off of the tallest building in your country this afternoon.

You would have a lot of mental resistance towards doing those things because it’s farther away from your familiar zone.

So,

Things at the center of your comfort zone = easy to do

Things farther away from your comfort zone = hard to do

But again, this doesn’t mean that:

Things inside your comfort zone = Bad

Things outside your comfort zone = Good

In fact, the comfort zone is a terrible indicator of what’s good for you and what’s bad for you (contrary to popular belief).

Just because something is inside your comfort zone, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad for you.

For example, drinking a glass of water is most likely inside your comfort zone — but that doesn’t mean drinking water is bad for you, now is it?

We can give the same argument for things like going for a walk, getting rest, and even playing with your dog.

These are all inside your comfort zone, but they’re not bad for you.

In the same light, just because something is outside your comfort zone, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good for you.

For example, jumping off of a 50ft cliff with no safety equipment is outside your comfort zone, but I think we can all agree that doing that is bad for your health.

So, not all things inside your comfort zone are bad for you, and not all things outside your comfort zone are good for you.

There isn’t actually a clear relationship between things that are inside the comfort zone, outside the comfort zone, and the value that these things have in your life.

So, how do you know what’s good for you and what isn’t?

Use your vision and long term goals as your guide (You can get a copy of my goal setting guide here).

Ask yourself each day, what is one thing that I can do today that is ALSO at the edge of my comfort zone which will bring me one step closer to my vision?

That is a better indicator if something is good for you or not.

In Conclusion

Now, does this mean you should stop doing anything that doesn’t align with your vision and goals?

Not necessarily.

There are things that don’t directly lead to your goals or vision, but it indirectly does.

These are things like:

• Getting a good night’s sleep

• Spending time with loved ones

• Traveling to different places

• The occasional cheat meal

• Watching the sunset

These are things that can either help us recharge, or bring us joy and excitement.

These are things that gives us fuel to keep moving towards our vision and goals.

These are things that break the monotony and give us variety in our lives (which is a human need, after all).

The key here is balance.

So, live your life at the edge of your comfort zone. You don’t need to stay outside of it to reach your goals.

In fact, imagine if you stayed outside your comfort zone and you were uncomfortable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You would live in stress and anxiety and your mind wouldn’t be able to handle the mental load.

Again, the key is balance.

Instead of pushing WAY beyond your own comfort zone, continue to venture and lean just beyond the edge.

If you consistently lean beyond your edge just enough to stimulate growth, you’ll level up constantly.

Daily.

Then over time, the growth will compound and you will start to feel proud of your progress.

Keep growing your comfort zone and eventually success becomes your comfort zone.

And it will become effortless.

All the love,
All the power,

— Zach Marañon

P.S. Whenever you are ready, there are 3 ways that I can be of help to you:

1. Follow me on Instagram here if you want a source of bite-sized ideas and content that can help you reach your next level in life.

2. Book a free kick-off conversation for one-on-one coaching here if you are an entrepreneur or sales professional currently looking to create solutions to a problem or challenge in your life but you seem to be stuck.

3. Download my goal setting guide here if you are wanting to create clarity on your desired outcomes (Free until 100 downloads — and then I convert it to a paid resource).

P.P.S. If you are from the Philippines and are looking for a personal mastery workshop to help you experience growth and transformation, check out Discovery by I Am Plus Coaching and Training Systems. It’s where my journey of self evolution personally got fast-tracked.