Editing Comfort zone (section)

==Performance management==

Alasdair White refers to the "optimal performance zone", in which performance can be enhanced by some amount of stress.<ref name="White2009">{{cite book|first=Alasdair |last=White|title=From Comfort Zone to Performance Management: Understanding Development and Performance|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=H4R3MAEACAAJ}}|date=1 December 2009|publisher=White & MacLean Publishing|isbn=978-2-930583-01-3}}</ref> Beyond the optimum performance zone, lies the "danger zone" in which performance declines rapidly under the influence of greater anxiety.

However, stress in general can have an adverse effect on decision making: fewer alternatives are tried out<ref name=":0">Staal, Mark A. [https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20060017835 "Stress, cognition, and human performance: A literature review and conceptual framework."] (2004), NASA/TM-2004-212824, IH-054</ref> and more familiar strategies are used, even if they are not helpful anymore.<ref name=":0" />

Optimal [[performance management]] requires maximizing time in the optimal performance zone. The main target should be expanding the comfort zone and optimal performance zone.