I have a daily goal for myself of writing a thousand words towards my book (this also includes re-writing as a lot of writing is re-writing) and a blog post (also includes re-writing). These are only when it comes to writing, though. I have other daily goals when it comes to fitness and my work and everything else that I do.

I tend to function at a much higher level of productivity and efficiency when faced with an immediate deadline. If I know that I have something to get done by this time or by this day, I do it very quick and also do it at a good level of quality. This is the heightened delivery rate when I'm working in my discomfort zone.

But, the discomfort zone is only good when I know exactly what I need to get done. I finish my thousand words as well as a blog post each day in anywhere between an hour and two hours. But I can't reach the same level of productivity when it comes to thinking about what to write or to put together little subplots for my book.

That creative work happens only in my comfort zone. I don't do well on that front when I'm facing stiff deadlines. Or any deadlines for that matter.

So, there are things I do well in my comfort zone and things I do well in my discomfort zone and they are generally not overlapping. If I give myself an hour to come up with a good idea for a blog post, I might fail miserably and waste one hour in the process. Instead, if I let ideas mull over in my head and jot them down as and when they come to me, I can revisit them with a stiff deadline of an hour to turn them into a meaningful post or advance my plot.

Stepping out of our comfort zone isn't good in and of itself.

We need to figure out what suits the task at hand and push ourselves into the right zone for it.