In 2026, its not enough to get out of your comfort zone...
Is your team exceptionally good at things that are quietly becoming irrelevant?
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What leadership teams misunderstood about comfort zones and why it matters in 2026
New Year’s resolutions love the phrase “Get out of your comfort zone!”
As if your comfort zone is something shameful—like your bed. GET OUT OF BED.
But for most of us, our comfort zones are not places of laziness.
It's our current place of proficiency.
Its where:
- you know what you’re doing
- you can deliver value reliably
- you’ve built instincts, judgment, and pattern recognition
So the real problem isn’t comfort zones. The real risk is being in the wrong comfort zone.
In 2026 success doesn't come from discomfort for discomfort's own sake. Or leaping into the unknown just to prove something. Success comes from intentionally moving to the next way of working. Moving from one zone of competence to the next. Think of comfort zones not as “places to leave,” but as levels to climb.
Why this matters in the accelerating world of tech and financial innovation in 2026?
Because from here on out, it's going to be a like a multi-level game. You get comfortable playing and winning at one level, then it's time to move to the next. These cycles are going to get shorter and shorter.
Think about this:
A football team isn’t “bad” just because it’s comfortable playing football. They're good at it! It's their game!
BUT what if suddenly they needed to play basketball? In that scenario, staying excellent at football would be a liability.
This is exactly where many industries—and leadership teams—are right now, as AI, crypto and other emerging technology create these non-negotiable requirements for new sets of skills.
The most crucial questions to ask this week:
- What has our industry conditioned us to be good at?
- Will that still matter next year? In 3 years?
- Has our operating environment prepared us for what’s next—or optimized us for doing things that are becoming obsolete?
Is your organization exceptionally good at things that are quietly becoming irrelevant?
The 2026 Mindset Shift: Not 'get out of your comfort zone' but 'move to your Next comfort zone
Below are four new comfort zones leaders should deliberately move toward in 2026. Not as aspirations—but as places to get comfortable operating from.