Your Comfort, Learning & Anxiety Zones

You will be challenged, put under stress, be “forced” to study and as a result, learn, throughout your Command Training.

In this article we’ll look at some different ”Zones” for learning that you can either remain in or shift between as the situation dictates. To get the most out of your training you should be moving between two of these Zones all through your training.

The focus of this discussion will be the “learning” environment. You may escalate into the high stress Zone as a result of “operational” pressures that you have to cope with. If so, you will have to use your Command and Leadership skills to successfully resolve the situation.

Ideally your Trainer will facilitate this moving between Zones to ensure that you get the absolute maximum value out of the training he provides you. Unfortunately not all Trainers are created equal and some will be completely unaware of these different Zones. Hence this article. If you have a bit of an idea of what these Zones represent and what their purpose and advantages and disadvantages are, then you can try and manoeuvre yourself in and out of the Zones to increase the training value you gain.

The 3 “Zones”

There are three possible “Zones” that you can be operating in. These are (in increasing order of difficulty and stress): your COMFORT Zone, your LEARNING Zone or your ANXIETY Zone.

The characteristics of these different Zones are listed in the following table;

COMFORT ZONE	LEARNING ZONE
Normal	Unknown
Old	New
Constant	Transitional
Solid foundation	Building
Safe	Entails risk and mistakes
Low Stress	Moderate stress
Security	Temporary loss of security
“Constricting” habits	Requires change
Conformist	Non conformist
“Past” successes	“Future” successes
May be below your potential	Unused or un-utilised potential
Familiar	Transformational
Stagnation and mediocrity	New skills
Comfortable	Fear
Complacency	Challenge

ANXIETY ZONE

No Learning

High Stress

Renders you “immobile”

Blocked Mind

You can move intentionally between the Zones or be placed in situations and environments where you are forced to move between the Zones. A good Trainer will intentionally be moving you back and forth between the Comfort and Learning Zones and avoiding the Anxiety Zone.

The Zones are fluid and flexible and can expand and contract depending on your mood, emotions, stress, the learning environment and the current situation. They depend very much on the individual person – one person’s Zone may be small and inflexible and another’s may be large and pliable.

You can progress from one Zone to another and back again depending on the situation and whether or not you are prepared to step outside of your Comfort Zone. Your attitude towards learning influences heavily your movement between the Comfort and Learning Zones.

Are you prepared to take a chance, risk possible failure and ultimately learn?
Anxiety Zone

We’ll get this one out of the way first as it has no place in the learning environment (although you may experience it in the operational environment).

If you progress into the Anxiety Zone you will not be learning anything much at all. It is a high stress, “freaked out”, very uncomfortable place for you to be in and you will attempt to do whatever is required to get back into the Learning Zone, or more likely the Comfort Zone, to escape the anxiety and stress associated with it. Humans have pretty good defence mechanisms and you will naturally seek to get out of this Zone as soon as possible.

If you determine that you have ventured into the Anxiety Zone try to move down to one of the other less stressful Zones so that you can begin to start learning again by removing yourself from the situation or environment if possible.

If your Trainer is not aware that you have moved into your Anxiety Zone, then tell him – remember you’re learning very little in this Zone!

Comfort Zone

This is the easy one, which most people like to wallow and live in. It is a result of the sum of all that you have learned and experienced previously. It is what you have previously learned and determined that you are comfortable living with and have settled for.

The space for what you want is being occupied by what you are settling for now.

There are positives and negatives with residing in the Comfort Zone.

The negatives consist of possible stagnation, complacency and mediocrity. You tend to conform to expectations so that you fit in with the crowd. You are unwilling to take a chance or risk as these things entail possible failure, loss of self esteem or adverse peer pressure. You are likely to have very strong “constricting” habits as a result of “past successes” (if it worked before, why bother changing?) You may be operating at a low potential, as you don’t really know what you are capable of and may not be prepared to find out. You tend to think well and truly “within the box”.

The positives consist of this Zone being a foundation, a safe and secure “home base” that you are comfortable with. It is a low stress place and very conducive to taking on board new ideas and thoughts (or in other words incorporating lessons learned). It is a place that you can return effortlessly to, so that you can “rest”, recover and recuperate.

Learning Zone

To learn, you need to expand your horizons outside of your Comfort Zone and into the Learning Zone. Deciding to take the first step can be the hardest part and this depends very much on your own attitude towards learning, risk and failure.

You’re a professional aviator who is on a steep learning curve towards Command. Don’t become the lowest common denominator. And don’t become constrained by conservatism.

I do not know anyone who has succeeded who has not been able to assess and take a risk and then live with the consequence – success or failure. Risk avoidance is a sure way to remain mediocre; being safe does not promote personal growth. Failure or making a mistake is not a bad thing; it's proof you were exploring new ways to do something, and that's better than safe success. We learn from our mistakes, not our successes. (David H. Lyman)

You need to stretch far enough that you achieve worthy goals. If you don’t stretch far enough you will only reach goals of limited and merely slightly increased value.

However, you must ensure that you don’t stretch so far that you end up in the Anxiety Zone. If you project yourself into this Zone you’ll end up learning very little (maybe “I’ll never do that again!”) and almost certain failure will result.

Moving Between The Comfort & Learning Zones

To learn, you need to move (or be “forced” by your Trainer) into the Learning Zone and take in new things, skills, concepts and ideas and then relax and return to your Comfort Zone. In this safe “home base” of your Comfort Zone you can contemplate the new stuff and experiences and decide if you will incorporate it/them into your way of doing your style and business of Command. If you do decide to integrate the new stuff you will have effectively expanded your flexible Comfort Zone.

Congratulations - you've learnt something! And that is what Command Training is all about.

Learning is an almost continual process of moving between your Comfort Zone to your Learning Zone and back again. You need to strike a balance between moving into your Learning and Comfort Zones for effective learning to take place. Being in the Learning Zone can be stressful and you will need to relax back into the Comfort Zone to rest and recover regularly (a bit like physical exercise).

Hopefully your Trainer will facilitate this, but if not you’ll have to do it yourself. If you don’t do it, chances are that no one else will. YOU need to take responsibility for your Self Directed Learning.

Moving into the Learning Zone entails taking risk and the chance of failure. Like everything you do with Command, it needs to be a “balanced” risk, or more correctly a “controlled” risk. What you get out of it if you succeed has to be worth more than what you are prepared to lose if you fail.

This is where a really good Trainer earns his money. He can pose scenarios, get you to accomplish new or different flying or Command skills or train you to think differently – all in a controlled manner to maximise your chances of success, and to definitely ensure that you learn something from the exercise.

Preparation plays a big part in this move into the Learning Zone. The more prepared you are the greater the chance of success. Never under-estimate the power of P⁷.

Some Final Thoughts

How you choose to function in the learning environment of Command Training is entirely up to you and you alone. A lot of it has to do with the skill of your Trainer, but most of it has to do with your personal attitude towards your Command Training. You will continually be stretched outside of your Comfort Zone – get used to it; grasp the learning experience with both hands and hang on tight!

If you want to feel secure
Do what you already know how to do.
But if you want to grow...
Go to the cutting edge of your competence,
which means a temporary loss of security.
So, whenever you don't quite know
What you are doing
Know that you are growing... (David Viscott)

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams, before the crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing...does nothing...has nothing...is nothing.
You may avoid suffering and sorrow, but you simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love...live.
Chained by your certitudes, you are a slave; you have forfeited freedom.
Only a person who risks is free. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)