About 10 years ago, I started a job as a trainer. In one of my first classes, the head trainer told us a very encouraging story.
He began by drawing a man standing in the middle of a circle. To make it more interesting, he drew things like a house, a car, and a few friends inside the circle.
He asked the question, "Can anyone tell me what this is?" In a long silence, one guy decided to try, "The world?" The trainer said, "That's close. Actually, this is your Comfort Zone(舒适区). Inside your circle, you have all the things that are important to you. Your home, your family, your friends, and your job. People feel that inside this circle they are safe from any danger. "
"Can anyone tell me what happens when you step out of this circle?"
A strong silence came over the room. The same guy finally started, "You are afraid." Another guy said, "You make mistakes."
The silence continued and the trainer smiled and said, "When you make mistakes, what can the result be?" The first guy shouted, "You learn something."
"Exactly, you are learning." The trainer turned to the board and drew an arrow(箭头) pointing from the man directly to the outside of the circle. He continued to say, "When you leave your Comfort Zone, you put yourself out there, in front of the world to be in situations that you are not comfortable with. The end result is that you have learned something that you did not know and you gradually become a better person." He turned again to the board and drew a bigger circle around the first circle, and added a few new things like more friends, a bigger house, etc.
