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NOTE: Text below has been paraphrased and modified for
younger students from the book The 7 Habits of Highly Successful
Teens by Sean Covey.
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Your COMFORT ZONE relates to things that you are familiar with,
places you know, people you're at ease with, and activities you enjoy
doing. Your COMFORT ZONE is
risk free. It's easy and doesn't require any stretching on your part.
Within these boundaries you feel safe and secure.
You
move out of your COMFORT ZONE when
you make new friends, speak in front of large audiences, stick up for
people and what you value as being important even if it is not the most
popular thing to do. Welcome to the COURAGE
ZONE! It is here that you will likely feel uncomfortable and
experience pressure, change, and the possibility of failure. But it is also
the place to go for adventure, opportunity, and the only place you will
ever reach your full potential.
So
what's wrong with hanging out in your COMFORT ZONE?
Nothing.
Much of your time should be spent there. But if you spend all of your time
in your COMFORT ZONE you will end
up leading a safe, sheltered, and probably ho-hum life. Hockey great Wayne
Gretzky once said You miss 100% of the shots you never take. Another
quote worth thinking about comes from Edmund Hillary who was the first
person to climb Mount Everest: It's not the mountain we conquer, but
ourselves.
Below is a list of some things you can do to explore
your COURAGE ZONE:
Make a new friend
Resist peer pressure by saying NO if it's the right thing to do.
Develop a new skill
Try out for a new team
Audition for a play
Volunteer to speak or sing at an assembly
Playing with different kids at recess
Organize a service project for school
Get involved by saying STOP when you see bullying
Conquer your fears
Ask for help when you don't understand something
Treat failures as opportunities to learn something new
DIRECTIONS: Use
Word to write a three paragraph story. Take an example from the list above, or think of
something on your own or based on our discussion in class that would
require you to move into your COURAGE ZONE. You may use a past experience, or write about something
you may try in the future.
The first paragraph should have a topic sentence. Students should also state the main issue, their view on the main issue, and what it is they are considering to do.
The second paragraph should re-state the main point. Describe the the following decision-making steps to reach your goal:
What steps must you take to accomplish your goal?
What other choices do you have?
What may happen if you fail?
What positive things may happen if you accomplish your goal?
What is the most important thing you need to keep in mind?
For the third paragraph you will write about how your decision turned out. Explain what happened. What commitment did you make to reach your goal? Make a final statement on whether or not stretching into your Courage Zone worth the
risk?
READ:
COURAGE ZONE
EXAMPLE
Students should begin writing and save their work before
the end of the period, and complete and e-mail their work to Mr. B. no later than the
end of the following period. Corrections will be returned to students for
revision by the following class meeting.
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