To err is human - I admit I was very wrong about what “comfort zone” really is and what does it truly mean. My approach has changed over the time and nowadays I have a totally opposite opinion, when compared with what I was thinking few years ago. And that’s what this post is about.
"Comfort zone" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_zone) is a term widely used by the corporate world - its meaning is a little bit different than the psychology-based definition you can read if you follow the link above. The comfort zone in the corporate world is the set of processes, tools, technologies and activities you feel good at and you prefer to use / follow in your professional life.
The corporate world doesn’t make a deep psychological analysis of “comfort zone” reasons - it just assumes that sticking to the comfort zone is a sign of weakness: you stay with it, because you’re afraid of learning / trying something new.
And that’s just stupid.
The problem with the corporate world is, that it doesn’t treat you as a person. You’re a "resource" - you can be freely shifted and re-assigned to whatever’s needed atm. It cares about your career only if it’s (accidentally) aligned with “available roles”. That’s why you’re the one to bend, to adjust. And if you don’t like it, "you’re afraid to leave your comfort zone".
Don’t fall within that trap, don’t let them herd you into their cubicle of choice if you don’t like it. Money is not worth it - shape your career in the way that will:
- make you learn things you actually like and are interested in
- give you sense of accomplishment
- help you develop in a way you like
You’ve got just one career and time time-frame to spur it won’t last forever. Every year is meaningful and should not be wasted on stuff you don’t give a minor f@ck. If I could turn back time and re-consider some of my decisions in the past, I think I’d rather change my job than play some roles I was assigned to. Luckily for me, I was always able to “squeeze a lot” from those roles and re-align myself in a way to create opportunities in a directions I preferred. But sometimes it was just pure luck and it could have ended differently. But that’s a completely different story.
Concluding: there’s nothing wrong in being a specialist. Just keep in mind: "jack of all trades, master of none".
