Are You Pushing Yourself Far Enough?

There’s a very fine line between boredom and having burnout.

Conventional wisdom tells us to step outside our comfort zone to find the so-called ‘magic.’ But what magic are we talking about? Unicorns? Aliens? An orgasm? Honestly, I’m not sure.

Here’s the reality: I’ve tried taking big leaps outside my comfort zone, and it didn’t work out. I’ve also tried going slow and steady, but that didn’t work either. I’ve realized that you need a balance between challenge and comfort — and achieving that balance is incredibly tough.

The reason? Tackling challenges requires skill. The bigger the challenge, the more skill you need. The problem with huge leaps is that you often don’t have the skills needed to handle the challenge.

It’s a concept I learned from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s seminal book on the way we work, Flow. After studying the relationship between challenge and boredom, he found that combining both factors leads to personal growth.

Csikszentmihalyi says:

“One cannot enjoy doing the same thing at the same level for long. We grow either bored or frustrated, and then the desire to enjoy ourselves again pushes us to stretch our skills, or discover new opportunities for using them.”