The Comfort Zone Trap
Every creative person wrestles with the tension between stability and growth. We want to stretch our practice without breaking it, to take risks without losing what we’ve built. But too often, we fall into the trap of believing growth means an all-or-nothing leap into the unknown. That kind of thinking tends to freeze us in place.
Real creative growth doesn’t have to be a dramatic overhaul. It can be small shifts. Adding a new layer to your process, introducing something unfamiliar into a client project, applying old skills in a fresh context. Those small experiments, done with intention, are what keep our work alive.
The same goes for organizations. It’s not always about big new programs. Sometimes it’s about tweaking what already works, testing something old in a new setting, or finding variation within what’s familiar.
Staying too long in the comfort zone can make us forget what we’re capable of beyond it. The skills we’ve developed are usually more transferable than we realize. We just have to be willing to test them.
Creative work is a living system. It needs movement to stay vibrant. That doesn’t mean starting over. It means asking, “What’s the next right stretch?” and giving yourself permission to answer.