Imagine walking out on an empty stage in front of an expectant audience, no lines learned, in fact, no script at all.People have nightmares about this kind of thing. Does the thought make your heart race a little? Your stomach churn? Yet there are a group of improvisers volunteering to do this very thing later this week on the Daylesford stage. A show where the audience gets to pick what the performance is about and these players make it happen. They might even tell you they find it fun.What can make one person dread something and another crave it? It’s a lot to do with what lies within our comfort zones.What is a comfort zone? As the name suggests, it’s the parameters of what we feel comfortable operating in, which include our habitual ways of approaching daily life developed over time. We do something, it works … we test it again, it works. The results are fairly predictable and so it becomes ‘what we do’ and ‘how we do it’. And this is directly informed by (and then also reinforces) what we believe is actually possible for us — what we can and cannot do.When we are young, we tend to be far more adaptable and our notions of ourselves (and the world) are far less fixed. As we get older, we can start to take less risks. By wanting to avoid making mistakes we end up sticking to the tried and tested. By doing the same old things, not straying out of our comfort zone we can become ‘set in our ways’. We compound this with phrases like, ‘an old dog can’t learn new tricks’. And we may feel we deserve to be comfortable.Unfortunately, at any age, being ‘comfortable’ (as described above) can also lead to boredom, missing out on opportunities and feeling stuck in a rut. There’s an adage, ‘if you’re not growing, you’re dying’. Being comfortable rarely leads to growth. Growth and progress require taking the next step, and that step usually takes you out of your comfort zone.So what’s out there? What lies beyond what comes easily? Outside the comfort zone you start getting into your challenge zone (I’ve heard it called the growth zone and even the groan zone). However if you step out too far and too quickly, you enter the panic zone. This is where many of us project to when we consider leaving what we know and the mere thought of it can keep us rooted right where we are. Consider the example I began with. If you’ve never done any theatrical improvising, of course the opening scenario would be terrifying and set the panic zone alarm bells ringing. However, for this team who have been learning improvisation skills and practising their craft over time, a public performance is the next logical step into the growth zone for them — an interesting challenge.Pacing it right.Here are some suggestions of ways we can keep growing and progressing without feeling overwhelmed.Steps to expanding your zone:1. Become aware of where you carry out habitual patterns in all areas of your life (work, relationships, home and social life etc), evaluate your routines and examine the assumptions you make about yourself.2. If there is an area where you feel stuck in your habits or comfort zone, but still feel hesitant to address it, ask yourself: What’s the worst that can happen by putting myself out there, putting myself on the line? Obviously if it is physical risk or harm then probably best to avoid it (If in doubt, get a doctor’s opinion, don’t just assume as you could be making excuses for yourself) but if the answer is: looking silly in front of someone else, or rejection, embarrassment, failure or the like … then ask yourself which is more important their opinion of me or my own? Be open to letting go of the fears keeping you stuck in your habitual ways of seeing the world and seeing yourself.3. Create a step-by-step plan to stretch your comfort zone little by little. The way to do this is to challenge yourself so that you are aiming just higher than your current skill level. This stretches you, and once you get competent at this level then stretch further. In this way, you are slowly growing your comfort zone. Another example: public speaking; something out of many people’s comfort zone. Instead of jumping into the panic zone of presenting a talk to 200 people, start in front of one person, or five people or ten wherever feels a slight stretch but doable, then build from there.4. Celebrate each of your successes along the way and keep track of the skills and confidence you’ve gained.Some Top Tips:* Note: if you’re outside your ‘comfort zone’ it’s going to feel a little … uncomfortable. But by following step three above, what was uncomfortable yesterday will be a piece of cake tomorrow. Remember learning maths? There was a time when just counting was a challenge! That’s growth and progress.* Try doing something different … anything. Change up a habit or a pattern just to see what it feels like. Probably not as scary as you thought. There is an improv game called ‘Yes … And …’ where each player has to fully accept the offer/suggestion made by the other player (Yes!), and then build on it, making it even better! Perhaps try something like this in your own life — a great way to introduce new opportunities and change.* Be proactive! Life has a way of throwing us ‘curve balls’ which can rip us out of our comfort zones in a heartbeat. Don’t wait for one of these. If you are in the habit of constantly stretching and adapting yourself, you will have more confidence and personal resources to cope with whatever comes your way.While it may be enough for most just to watch this week’s improv show, why not consider taking a little step outside your zone and see where that journey will take you.A great resource on this subject is: ‘Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway’ by Susan Jeffers. And to find out more about improv, check out: www.facebook.com/improvbermuda.Julia Pitt is a trained success coach and certified NLP practitioner. For further information telephone 705-7488 or visit www.juliapittcoaching.com.