Outside my comfort zone

After a conversation with a colleague about pursuing a degree outside of nursing, I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. I knew I wanted to challenge myself, but how exactly? I decided I wanted to pursue a Master of Business Administration in Healthcare (MBA-HC), even though this made my anxiety soar. My inner monologue swung wildly between “Do I even know anything that will help me complete this degree?” and “It’s in healthcare, I should have basic knowledge, right?” At the end of the day, I knew this would enhance learning for my students and make me more well-rounded in my knowledge.

Reading the article "How to Leave Your Comfort Zone and Enter Your ‘Growth Zone’" by Oliver Page got me thinking, too. He said it is not lack of knowledge that holds individuals back from an opportunity but rather their frame of mind. I needed to change my thinking if I wanted to grow and get out of my comfort zone. The Yerkes-Dodson Law provides an explanation for the relationship between anxiety and performance. The idea is to create a balance between the two and use them to obtain growth because if one remains in the comfort zone, boredom can result, and too much anxiety or fear about doing something new can impact growth. Fear and anxiety can be impetuses for growth if one does not let them get in the way of experiencing and learning new things. My everyday routine needed a change. The new experience becomes the new comfort zone, along with the confidence to continue to reach for new experiences and challenges.

That isn’t to say I didn’t experience highs and lows with this challenge. Doubt reared its head when I faced financial accounting, which I had not tackled since my undergraduate days. On the other hand, I realized I knew more than I thought I did about strategic planning. I reminded myself that I was a student and not a faculty member, so I needed to ask for help when necessary and to put effort into learning about financial accounting if I was to be successful in the course. Now that I have completed the MBA-HC program, I realize I am more resilient, and I know now without doubt that I can accomplish my goals. 

I surprise myself every day when I realize that I am using my new knowledge to enhance learning for my students through questioning, research, and even making correlations between the business and nursing worlds. I am sharing all this with my students, too, and looking for ways to improve course offerings. Because of the difference this has made in my life, I encourage everyone to step out of their comfort zone to try something new. The feelings of accomplishment and increased self-confidence are rewarding! Plus, I bet you’ll see the world in a new way, one in which you can be an active, confident participant.