“At Hult, you will be forced out of your comfort zone, but it will be a good thing because it means that you are learning something.”

Everyone has their own safe zone, or “comfort zone,” in their mind. As a foreigner, it was my first time hearing this expression, when the Dean at Hult International Business School San Francisco campus used it in the middle of her speech. I think the whole sentence went something like this: “At Hult, you will be forced out of your comfort zone, but it will be a good thing because it means that you are learning something.” Now, even if you are a foreigner like me, you should understand the meaning to this phrase, right?

Just to be precise, one of my favorite websites—Wikipedia—defines a “comfort zone” as being a psychological state in which things feel familiar to a person and they are at ease and in control of their environment. Personally, this phrase gives me an image. An image of myself all cuddled up in my warm bed where I do not want to get up and there is a fence up to keep me from getting out of it. This is my personal image, but everyone should get the point. It is the one and only place you do not want to leave and it would feel so good to stay there forever. But it is also the one place where you would not develop yourself.

I have been at Hult for almost two months now and I have definitely been pushed out of my comfort zone. Hult’s Global One-Year MBA program is very well-planned so that in its first module, they slowly lure you out of the zone with a carrot in one hand. At the next module, you find yourself on top of that fence and—bam!—they push you so that you are totally out of your comfort zone. I made it sound a bit mean, but in my case, it was very helpful when they did that.

“By working outside of your comfort zone, your engine is always kept warm and running.”

As an MBA student, I made a firm determination and set my goals straight before coming to Hult. However, my mind is not strong enough to keep focused and be motivated to force myself to be on the track 24/7. By working outside of your comfort zone, your engine is always kept warm and running. Yes, it is a bit stressful, but your eyes are always on the target and you do not lose focus. You find yourself more willing to learn and tend to have a growth mindset.

Being out of your comfort zone does get you tensed up and you might even find yourself waking up earlier that you used to, as you want to work more on your CV or something (Yes, this did happen to me). However, you are stepping closer to the goal you want to achieve and, indeed, that is why we chose to come to Hult in the first place. Not to mention, my fellow Hultians know how to throw a good party—something that helps during the stressful days. So, my final words: if you are experiencing what I am going through and running wildly outside of your comfort zone, do not get stressed out—be grateful that you are on your own road to success.

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JoonYong Jun is an MBA student at Hult San Francisco Campus. He has 6 years of work experience as a salesman and a marketing manager in the IT industry. He is fond of playing video games and a huge fan of superhero movies (DC does not suck, but he prefers avengers to Justice League).

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