A comfort zone is great – if you think comfort is great.
Comfort is great if you like what’s familiar, what’s predictable, what’s safe.
Comfort is great, of course, if you have had a life-long struggle with health, overwork and other stresses.
But comfort zones are also a trap, a still harbor, a well.
It’s a well where a frog at its bottom thinks the world outside is as seen as fixed as the boundary of the well’s circumference. There’s a Chinese saying that sums up that kind of worldview – it’s literally labelled as “a frog in a well 井低蛙.”
A comfort zone is also a still harbor – a safe shelter for a boat that’s actually designed for speed and sailing.
It’s also a trap where comfort can zone out curiosity; curiosity about the world; curiosity about different people, different cultures, different values, different struggles. It’s eventually a trap which narrowly defines success, strictly within the confines of comfort.
Of course, comfort is a necessary stage or perhaps a desirable destination for success – especially after you’ve toiled for a long time.
But for young people who have little life or work experience, getting out of the comfort zone is key to gaining life and work skills – key to success and happiness.
“I’m convinced that if you spend time overseas or outside of your comfort zone you will not only have better opportunities, but you’ll be more marketable because your dialogue and your ability to expand the dialogue will be enhanced. I like to stress to young people the importance of travel.” -Lisa Ling, journalist & TV Host of “Our America” on the Oprah Network
Lisa Ling – a prominent Chinese American journalist–dispensed that piece of advice for young people during our recent interview in Los Angeles. (Full Episode coming in the Fall on “Headliners & Heroes” on www.162.144.26.251/~chinaper)
What a tremendous piece of advice – travel.
In Chinese culture, travel is perceived as a great facilitator of knowledge and understanding. Travel trumps study–as summarized in this Chinese idiom: “To have read thousands of pages of books is not comparable to having traveled thousands of miles of roads (读万卷书不如行万里路).”
I’ve personally experienced the profound transformational effects of international travel on my worldview and self-view. Meeting and befriending different people with different priorities, values, cultures, and languages has expanded my horizons and opened my mind.
When I first chose to get out of my comfort zone at age of 15, I wasn’t aiming for success, I wasn’t gaming for winning–I was simply curious.
I was curious about the wider world–a different mindset, a different set of challenges, a different kind of thinking and connecting, and a different way of learning and living.
Over the years, I continue to travel for work and for fun because I am still curious about the world–there’s so much to see and to think about.
The more I travel, the more I become aware of new opportunities and possibilities that I did not see by staying in a comfort zone. I feel more alive, fulfilled and connected with people–and that, I think, is the essence of success.
舒适区很好呀——人通常都喜欢舒适的环境。
你喜欢处于一个舒适并且没有危机感的环境中吗？俗话说人生不如意，十之八九。喜欢舒服，轻松没什么不好。我们都喜欢活在自己的舒适区中。
但舒适区也是个陷阱，一个海港，一个井。
就好比井底之蛙。井底虽很安全但毕竟不能让这只青蛙认识到天其实大于井的圆周。
舒适区也好像一个海港——给一艘轮船避风的港口。
它也是个会抹灭好奇心，对世界的好奇对他人的好奇对不同人情世故的好奇，的一个陷阱。一个人的成功也会因此被狭窄化。
当然，经过生活中的风风雨雨之后我们最终向往的可能就是一个属于我们的舒适区。
但对年轻人而言其实走出自己的舒适区才能累积到更多的经验让自己的生活更丰富多彩。
“如果你有出国，有走出自己的舒适区的经验，我相信你肯定会因为从非舒适区中累积到的经验而在生活中得到更多的机会。你的阅历会因此而广泛。我想在此强调旅行对年轻人的重要性。”
这是Lisa Ling，一位著名的华裔记者，在最近的一次访问跟我们说的。
在中国文化中，旅行是被视为扩展人们视野的一个好方法。俗话说读万卷书不如行万里路。
我自己也深深体会到旅行对我的世界观和自我了解态度的影响。接触不同的人不同的文化扩展了我的视野。
我第一次走出自己的舒适区是在我十五岁的时候。当时我也没有想那么多只是纯粹为了满足我的好奇心。
世界如此之大。我想迎接不同的挑战，体验不同的文化生活。
旅行是我工作的一部分也是我的娱乐。我去过越多的地方接触过越多的人情世故就越觉得走出自己的舒适区才能给生活带来更多的色彩和机会。我现在觉得自己活跃，更能于大家沟通——我觉得这就是成功的基本。