LEARNING AND THE Comfort Zone I am a typical guy in many respects just like everyone else! Once I learn and master something I tend to rest on my laurels, so to speak, and fall into that comfort zone! An example would be my present job as a Wireless Network Engineer. First time I went to program a wireless connection I struggled and it took me 15 or twenty minutes, now it takes me seconds. At first when I designed a wireless network I struggled and it took me days, now it takes me hours. I remember how overwhelmed I felt when I first started the job, how uncomfortable, unsure, and afraid I felt – was I doing it right, was I considering everything. Contrast to now I know it like the back of my hand, and can walk users through programming without even looking at the screens. It’s like that with anything we undertake we face a new and seemingly difficult job ahead and when we start we are out of our comfort zone, in a new and uncomfortable arena. Emotions of disgust, overwhelmed, fear, resentment, and frustration are normal. Typically the process involves struggle and its good old buddy failure, where we have to try, and fail, try and fail over and over until we hit on that formula for success. Thing is that once it comes it is like someone turned on a light bulb, what once seemed so ominous and overwhelming now seems like nothing, simple and routine. One of the biggest things that gets people through this process is having a mentor, not just a website with a bunch of articles, but a true mentor, someone that you can actually talk to that will assist you with your steps to success. Thing is I can tell you that being a mentor kind of sucks – Because if you are doing it right your students hate you to a certain extent. Why? Because you have to push them, they need to be pushed into that uncomfortable zone, one that involves all those negative emotions, along with trial, error, and failure until they achieve that success – And those things suck and people are typically resentful and angry with the person that pushes them through an uncomfortable process. Sad but true – if your mentor isn’t pushing you and making you uncomfortable then he probably isn’t a doing his job! Yesterday I watched a video by my mentor about what makes a good mentor - Take a look -> youtu.be/Dk6YqWhgM2s
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 18:50:31 +0000
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