Learn More, Faster: 6 Tips to Get Out of Your Learning Comfort Zone.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then it might be best to move.

On some level we all acknowledge that we learn the most when we are slightly outside of our comfort zone. We can learn new languages far better when living full time in the country where it is spoken. The most difficult times in our lives – job loss, illness, relationship changes etc. – are often the ones that force us to learn the most about ourselves as well as learning new skills to survive our change in circumstances.

But the thing is, for most people, getting outside of our comfort zones is... uncomfortable.

So how do we challenge ourselves to get out of the comfort zone? And how do we provide that zone of challenge for learners without leaving them switched off or scared away?

I’ve been thinking about it this week because the weekly assignment, for the EdX Learning Design Methods course, involved creating a podcast. The main element of the learning was to read and understand a model, and present the ideas back for peer review.

But the task was the podcast.

This was totally new to me. I’m not the biggest fan of hearing my own voice and I’d certainly never considered putting it out on the internet, for any interested party to listen to, before. The idea made me a little uncomfortable.

So why was this task a podcast? Why not a mind map (last week) or a multimedia presentation (the week before)? By having us present our learning in different ways, the course design challenges each of us to take tackle our weaker areas and learn from each other’s stronger ones.

As a result I have not only learnt about the Dick and Carey model of Instructional design, I have learnt:

• To record my voice in audacity.

• To script my ideas to fit a given time frame.

• To upload audio and embed it in my website.

• Tips and tricks for vocal presentation from other’s – like adding a rolling transcript, pace and volume, interview style podcasts....

• And to accept that the sky will not fall in if strangers hear a recording of me talking!

Now, I’ve been on plenty of professional development course in my time which challenge us to get up and active – role playing, presenting in front of one another, even dancing. – to varying degrees of success. In the worst examples, my more introverted colleagues just switched off completely. Both from the activity and from the learning. The level of stress was too much for them to want to overcome. But my success in taking on the podcast has got me thinking about how learning designers can nudge their learners outside of their comfort zones without that dreaded switch off?

Here’s my top 6 ideas to get yourself and your learners out of their learning comfort zone:

1. Group dynamics

Getting outside your comfort zone is never easy when you feel that you’ll be judged for it.

For many people, it’s easier to present ideas to strangers than to friends and colleagues. Knowing the judgment of classmates or colleagues won’t follow you back to your desk, if your idea was wrong or your delivery less than perfect, makes it easier to have a go.

Fostering a climate of trust among members of a course takes time and effort – and could be the subject of a whole new blog post – but there needs to be a climate of risk taking and respectfulness before most learners will push themselves in at the deep end of learning.

Strike a Pose: it's hard to learn if you feel self conscious.

2. Candy coat it

One of the reasons I wasn’t overwhelmed by the podcast task is because the recording of my voice wasn’t the major element being judged. It was a secondary learning objective, wrapped tidily inside a “learn and summarise” wrapper that I felt quite confident taking on.

Combining elements that your learners feel relaxed or even excited to tackle alongside more challenging ones creates a motivation to proceed.

What's that you say? There's a big scary challenge beneath all that sugar? I'll take it anyway!

3. Make it necessary

I’m a big believer that necessity is the mother of invention – and the mother of learning too.

If it’s easy to take your child everywhere by car, they’ll never learn to take the bus. And so it is in learning.

If getting outside your comfort zone is necessary to achieve an important goal, you will do it. That’s the reason those language learners are learning so quickly whilst living abroad, after all.

Remember your first bus ride? Or your first time on public transport in a new city? What first seems daunting can become second nature.

4. Start small

Going back to my colleague who sat in angry silence through an entire workshop, after being expected to join in role play exercises: It was a huge challenge for her. She was so far out of her comfort zone she couldn’t find her way back.

And that doesn’t work.

Bear in mind that your learners will all have different strengths and weaknesses and, whilst you will want to use and challenge those, it pays to start off small. Build confidence through achievable tasks and people will experience the buzz of success.

A small amount of stress causes the brain to respond, heightening alertness and concentration. Afterwards, the happy chemicals of success and relief can be addictive. (It’s why some people literally get addicted to being stressed out!) However, too much stress and the brain gets flooded: it literally cannot take in new information i.e. NO learning.

Start small and bask in the sunlight of your successes.

5. Reflect

If you’re going to be working with a group of learners over a number of sessions, think about using some time for them to reflect on how their learning felt.

Many people recognize the satisfaction they got from completing a task, forgetting how they felt before they took it on. Other’s focus on how uncomfortable an experience was without realizing all they learnt from it.

Having learners recognize their feelings about a task before and after completion helps them to learn about themselves and to feel more confident taking on new things in future. Getting their feedback and reflection also helps you to fine tune the level of challenge and get to know your learners better.

Relaxing reflection: No one wants to be challenged all of the time.

6. “Do it. And do it now.”

My grandmother’s favourite piece of advice and I still use it as a mantra at times. As a natural procrastinator – it gets me a long way. So what are you waiting for? Stop thinking about it.

Go get on with it.

And have fun being –slightly– uncomfortable!

Photo credits:

Man sitting on mountain: Photo by Steve Halama; Hilltop sillhouettes: Photo by Val Vesa; Sweet face: Photo by rawpixel; Busy bus: Photo by Ernanette Carolino; Tiny Umbrellas: Photo by Kevin Borrill ; Tree reflection: Photo by Faye Cornish. All on Unsplash.