How To Find Your Optimal Productivity Zone
The Comfort Zone
Where things are predictable, safe, and boring. It’s unlikely you’ll grow here, because there isn’t enough stimulation.
The Learning Zone
Where your senses are heightened enough to absorb new information, and things are exciting, challenging, and new. This zone is right on the edge of anxiety but not quite there, yet. It needs to be close enough that all of your senses are stimulated and online, but not so close that you're incapacitated.
The Panic Zone
Where things are tense, frustrating, and exhausting. Symptoms of living a life in the panic zone might be chronic stress or anxiety, freezing up when looking at your task load, and constantly feeling like your life is in chaos or out of control. "Fire of the day" management style creates a work environment in the panic zone.
Get it?
Everyone is different. It's up to you to figure out how you're feeling and responding to your work.By understanding yourself better, you can make decisions about the work environment you put yourself in and the people you surround yourself with.It's up to you to know enough about yourself and TAKE ACTION to put yourself in the best position for success.No one else is going to do this for you!Not your boss, project manager, your mom, no one.
Where did this come from? Did you just make this up?
No, I didn't make this up.This is based on Vygotsky's Proximal Zones of Development, coined sometime circa the 20th century.
2 Minute Action:
On a scale from 1 to 10, how anxious are you at work?1 would be bored and 10 would be tearing your hair out.If you're between a 1 and a 5, you're in the comfort zone. You need to step it up if you want to move forward.If you're at a 6 or a 7, great! You're pushing your comfort level which means you're learning and growing.If you're consistently at an 8 or higher, you may be at risk for chronic stress, which has a bunch of nasty side effects.If your work environment changes a lot, like mine does, you may want to consider setting up an iOS or Android reminder to do this exercise every couple of weeks. You might find that you're stressed out no matter the environment, which would suggest that you need to work on some personal growth--or you might find out that there's really nothing exciting about your job, even at it's best.This isn't a cure-all, it's just a tool you can use to improve yourself.The point isn't for me to keep hitting you over the head with this stuff, it's for you to start asking yourself how you can use these tools/insights in your own unique life.
The Trick To Hitting A Moving Target
The pressure is on when you're trying to hit a moving target.There are always people around to criticize you, or to give you free advice on how to do it.Nothing is ever quite right when you're taking aim, either.You're too old.You're too young.Your idea is too big.Your idea is too small.Your life is too comfortable.Your life isn't uncomfortable enough.The target is always moving.This ebb and flow is a thought pattern that flows through all of us and it can dangerously warp reality if we let it.The good news is that if we realize we're stuck in our own heads, we can start to see clearly again.If we realize that these are excuses and not truths, we can begin to realize the target was in our sights the whole time.RE: The trick to hitting a moving target is realizing that we're the ones moving it.You have more control than you think.
2 Minute Action
What's a criticism you have of yourself? How has it held you back?What might happen if you didn't believe it? What might happen if you had a magic wand and that criticism disappeared forever?What might you be free enough to do, then?What if you gave yourself permission to ignore the voice and do it anyway?