If you’d like to make the most of your potential and feel more fulfilled in your career and life, please do email me and let’s have a conversation about how we can work together.Įnter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.One of the key factors behind Stretch Zone’s success is its innovative approach to stretching. Turning over pebbles is the blog of Thinking Space Coaching. Today’s pebble for you to ponder: which zone are you in? Do you need to stretch a little or rein in your expectations? ‘I’m definitely in the stretch zone now and it’s a much better feeling,’ she explained. I spoke to Sophie yesterday: she’s done all that she planned and is feeling challenged and excited about the next few months. ‘I’m also going to ask a friend of mine who’s a couple of years further down the career track if she will help me work through that process.’ I need to dial down my expectations of myself to achieve everything straight away and break my targets down into smaller sub-sections where I can learn and grow, maybe even fail, but without catastrophic results. If I think about my new role in that way, I see now that I’ve dived straight in to freezing cold water and am freaking out. Also, you had a trusted expert with you too. ‘It sounds to me like you were in the stretch zone then – every time you went to the lake, you pushed yourself a little bit further but not so far that it could be dangerous. As I learnt how my body reacted to the conditions, I could swim for a little longer. Then I moved on to swim just for a minute quite close to the edge. Then I sat down so I could safely experience that sudden intake of breath when my whole body was immersed in the cold water. ‘First of all, I just went wading in the shallows so I got used to the cold of the water and the feel of the squelchy mud under my feet. He helped me come up with a plan where I’d take it in stages. I knew that I couldn’t just go and jump in a nearby lake without any preparation so I talked to a friend who’s been wild swimming for years. ‘Well, I was already a confident pool swimmer so that was a good start. I remember that you told me about when you started wild swimming. ‘What would it be like to retreat from the panic zone into the stretch zone?’ ‘Definitely in the panic zone and I just want to get back to the comfort zone.’ ‘ So which zone do you feel you are in now?’ I drew out the diagram of the zones for Sophie. ‘Yes – I just can’t do it at the pace I thought I could when I first got the job.’ I’d be back doing what I know for sure I can do rather than feeling like I’m completely paralysed by the fear that they’re going to realise I have no idea what I’m doing.’ In my head, I’m imagining calling up my boss and asking if I can just go back to my old job.’ ‘I feel like I’ve bitten off more than I can chew,’ she sighed, ‘and now I’m like a rabbit caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. Having taken on new, more senior role, Sophie had high expectations of herself and was seeking to achieve some fairly major results in her first three months in post. The panic zone is where one of my clients – let’s call her Sophie – found herself recently. Outside that circle is another circle – the panic zone. That’s the stretch zone – sometimes known as the growth zone. If we imagine the comfort zone as a circle, let’s draw a larger concentric circle around it. In terms of the workplace, useful work happens here but we’re unchallenged, lacking in development, run the risk of stagnating and ultimately becoming bored and disengaged. Things are familiar and there is often little motivation to make any changes. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s taught us that life is uncertain and that we may have to re-work our plans and then re-work them again! In the midst of that uncertainty, many have retreated to their comfort zones – a state of being where we feel safe and at home.
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