About 10 years ago, I started a job as a trainer. In one of my first classes, the head trainer told us a 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 speak out,“The world?” The trainer said, “That's close. Actually, this is your Comfort Area. Inside your circle, you feel very comfortable. You have all the things that are important to 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. At last, the same guy 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."
“Quite right, you are learning." The trainer turned to the board and drew an arrow（箭头） pointing from the man to the outside of the circle. He continued to say, “When you leave your Comfort Area 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 slowly become a better person." He turned again to the board and drew a bigger circle around the first one, and added a few new things like more friends, a bigger house, etc.
The moral of the story is that if you stay inside your Comfort Area, you will never be able to expand your horizons（开阔视野）and learn. When you step out of your Comfort Area you will finally make your circle bigger and your mind grow stronger, and all in all a better person."
