Pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones can go hand in hand with uncomfortable feelings. In this blog, Katrina reflects on her journey of learning throughout her four years at U of T and her time at the Innovation Hub.
Written by Katrina Sze Ching Soong, Qualitative Data Archivist Team Lead, Honours Bachelor of Arts, English and Philosophy Double Major, History Minor
Reflecting on Learning
I remember feeling rather nervous stepping into iHub’s Leadership Orientation as the new Qualitative Data Archivist Team Lead this year. Even though I’ve worked at the iHub before, I knew that stepping into a leadership role would be a much different experience, and admittedly I worried that I wasn’t ready for the role. But during the leadership orientation, I remember that our Manager, Julia, reassured us that it was okay to feel slightly uncomfortable entering into this role right now. She explained that learning is supposed to be a bit uncomfortable, since it involves stepping out of our comfort zone. I couldn’t describe the relief I felt after I heard her say that. It was like a weight I have been carrying has been lifted. And reflecting on my learnings during my four years here at U of T now, I cannot emphasis how true Julia’s words were.
Recognizing What I am Capable Of
For as long as I can remember, I have always been terrified of doing presentations. The very idea of standing and speaking in front of a big crowd, with so many people watching and judging, often has my face and ears turning red with embarrassment.
But during my second year, a professor I really admired urged us to present at an undergraduate academic conference happening right here at U of T. It just so happened that one of the essays I wrote recently aligned with the theme of the conference! With encouragement from my friend, despite my fear of doing presentations, I decided to apply—because what is the worst that could happen? This was the first time throughout my university journey that I decided to step out of my comfort zone and try to conquer my fears.
Since then, whenever an opportunity to practice my presentation skills arose, I took them up. As I continued going out of my comfort zone again and again, doing all the necessary preparation and practice, the more I felt more comfortable delivering presentations to the point where some of my audience felt that I seemed like a natural doing it. The fact that I was able to overcome something that I’ve been afraid of for so long made me realize that I am more capable than I thought. Things that I once believed were impossible for me are not far from my grasp after all!
Building Confidence
My learning journey continued into my position as a University of Toronto Quality Assurance Process (UTQAP) Design Researcher. Part of my job included interviewing students to ask about their experiences in their academic programs. But I was feeling rather nervous about facilitating interviews. Even though I’ve conducted interviews before, they were all done informally. So, I felt unsure about my capabilities in this role since interviewing felt like “uncharted territory” for me.
But as my supervisor arranged practice sessions for us to practice facilitating interviews, when I eventually facilitated actual interviews, I felt my fears begin to fade away. I found that facilitating interviews was not only less intimidating than I first thought, but I also found myself enjoying the interview process a lot, more than I thought I would.
Maybe it’s partially because of how much I enjoyed hearing participant’s stories, or maybe it’s because of the practice sessions my supervisor organized I got positive feedback on my interviewing skills from both participants and my supervisor. Getting such positive feedback made me realize that I shouldn’t doubt myself as much as I did, and that I should have more confidence in my skills and abilities.
Being Comfortable in my Own Shoes
As I continued to try growing my own confidence, I mustered the courage to apply for a Team Lead position at the Innovation Hub. With limited experience in leadership roles in the past, taking up this new role felt like a daunting task, especially when I realized that I would be leading a big team of eight work-study students.
Just like in the past, I did my best to prepare for this new role—asking for advice from others on the leadership team, preparing agendas in advance so I know what to say during team meetings, and so on. My team was extremely kind to me as I quickly learned the ropes of my new role. The more I got to know them as we worked closely with each other over the months, the more comfortable I became to just be myself in this new role and being comfortable with just being who I really am.
From Discomfort to Potential
Looking back at these times where I pushed myself out of my comfort zone, it is only now that I realize how much I’ve grown and how much progress I’ve made since I started! It is by putting myself out there that I discovered that I am actually more capable than I first thought, and that things I once believed to be impossible for me were not that difficult to achieve. Still, this process of learning is not easy. I found that it is almost always followed by a period of discomfort, which can be easily mistaken for feelings of incompetence, making it easy to fall into the trap of imposter syndrome. So, I think we should learn to embrace this discomfort and not let it stop us from learning something new. At least to me, it is only by pushing past the discomfort and feelings of insecurity can we truly discover our true potential!
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