There was a twit on 6th of April 2020, a question asked by Governor of West Java, Ridwan Kamil, to netizens when pandemic hit the world. A twit that was filled by questions and attached with picture of different zones. The questions were: where were you? Still in fear zone or trying to be in learning zone? Or maybe, you already actively moved to growth zone?
At first, I did not understand at all what exactly the connection between those circles with covid-19. It was on April, just a month after Indonesia had its first case of covid-19. Not until December, I was reminded again with the similar picture in a year-end webinar a couple of weeks ago.
Those circles in pictures above mean that every human will always find their comfort zone. However, in the same time they will also enter the fear zone. A simple example: we are having a good sleep with a sweet dream and suddenly wake up. What do you feel? Most of us will be disturbed or maybe shocked in seconds. That is the fear zone. Then, we try to calm down by checking our phone “hey what time is it?” or just asking to our mind “what happened?” That is the learning zone. Learning zone forces us to think and identify what is going on around us. When we are fully awake, we can start doing another activity. That is the initiation of growth zone. From that, I begin to understand that we actually can go back and forth within these zones, not only just during a pandemic but also in our everyday lives. The target is to be in growth zone as long as we can. But be careful, the fear zone can hinder us to move forward and hold us in comfort zone.
During a pandemic, we can see that not everyone can easily move from comfort zone or be steady in learning or even try to move to growth zone. Some people have their denial by saying covid-19 is not real and are still be in comfort zone: not using mask and hand sanitiser, also social distancing. Or some other think that this virus will be gone soon by itself, we just only have to strengthen our immune system. However, other people already learn something to adapt and transform to the new version of them.
So how can we manage to be in growth zone? The CEO of Share on Purpose, Terri Maxwell said that there are 3 key steps that can help to move us into growth zone.
1) Be conscious: what am I worry about?
2) Try alternative solutions
3) Adapt!
Based on the pictures above, let’s identify ourself in the beginning of 2021, still in pandemic condition as in 2020: At what zone am I right now?
If you are struggling or feeling not comfortable with current situation, congratulations! You are in the very first step to enter growth zone. The next question is: are you willing to learn something new on or go back to your comfort zone?