On Breaking Out of Your Comfort Zone

Another week gone, another story completed.  When I finished my latest story, "A Tale of Two Musicians," I went back and read all three of the stories I've written to date for 52SS.  Although the plot of all three stories are completely different, the characters are different, and even the storytelling methods are different, there was a certain sameness to all three.  I guess this what many people call a writer's voice.  Having a particular voice is very important as a writer, but I think one has to be careful about getting too comfortable with one's own voice.  Even more generally, I think one has to be careful about getting too comfortable with any aspect of one's writing, or one's life. 

I'm a strong believer that to evolve as a person, one must try new things, and most specifically, try things that make you uncomfortable.  In order to evolve as an artist, I believe that the same thing needs to be done.  One needs to try new things and new techniques, things that one is unfamiliar with, and in the end one will be better for it.

Here are just a few of the reasons I think it's important to break out of your comfort zone.

1. Get a fresh perspective

Trying to do something different gives you a fresh perspective on things, and allows you to see things with the attentiveness and awareness of a beginner.  For example, I've been driving for many years now, and consider myself to be a good driver.  A couple of years ago, I learned how to ride a motorcycle.  As a rider, your view of the road is completely different.  You are much more vulnerable, much less visible, and have much more ability to kill yourself.  Learning to ride a motorcycle gave me a new perspective on the way I looked at the road, and changed the way I drive a car.  I am more alert, anticipate better, and am more aware of my surroundings, and that is all because I've seen the road from a different vantage point.

2. Skills carry over across disciplines

In many cases, the advantages to training in various disciplines are obvious.  If you are a hockey player, and you take up weight training or boxing, the benefits are obvious.  However, many times, there are skills gained by cross-training that are not immediately apparent.

A friend of mine has painted as a hobby for as long as I can remember.  Two summers ago, he took up photography, and got really into it, pretty much abandoning painting for that whole summer.  When I asked him if he was going to give up painting, and take up photography, he told me that on the contrary, part of the reason he took up photography was to be a better painter.  He said that photography teaches you how to view your surroundings or your subject in order to capture it in the best way possible.  This general aesthetic sense can easily be applied to painting, or just about any other visual art I would imagine, but photography was the easiest way for my friend to hone this particular skill.

3. Keep things interesting

The hardest part of any craft is staying interested in it.  Some people are lucky in that they are so passionate and love what they do so much, that they could do it for 12 hours a day for the rest of their lives without getting bored.  Personally, I could never do that.  I enjoy my job, but there are still days where I get bored doing it.  I love writing, but if I continue to write the same way for the rest of my life, I know that changing the story will not be enough to keep me interested.

By changing things up, you keep things interesting.  The same rules apply to just about everything in life, from sex to exercise.  Do anything the same way for too long, and you will get bored.

4. Challenge yourself

This is a bit of a combination of all of the above points, but I think challenging oneself is a worthy reason to do something in and of itself.  No one ever got better at doing anything if they kept doing it at the same level all the time.

Taking yourself out of your element, and forcing yourself to do something different challenges you to use different muscles, different thought patterns and different techniques - or you just need to give it that little bit of extra effort.

If you want to become a better basketball player, you can't just keep beating your little brother in the driveway court, you need to play against better players than you.  If you want to become a better cook, you can't keep making the ready in under 30 minute recipes.  If you want to expand your business, you can't keep selling to the same customers.  You need to challenge yourself to get better.

5. Discover new loves

As an added bonus, doing something different will often result in discovering new loves or passions.  My painter friend who took up photography, now splits his time between both disciplines and is enamoured with his lenses tripods.  I've met many a skier, who tried snowboarding and switched camps. 

A few years ago, I hurt my knee, and while I used to run for cardio exercise that was out of the question.  Out of necessity, I started swimming, and discovered that I actually prefer swimming as a form of exercise to running. 

All of the above reasons can just as easily be applied to writing or any discipline.  The bottom line is, if you ever want to be successful at anything, you need to try different ways of doing it.  None of them might ever be as good as your way, but I guarantee that you'll learn something.  For my part, my next story is going to be a complete departure for me, so wish me luck.

Photo by Kaptain Kobold.