Routines can be stable and comforting, but they can also become boring and limiting over time. All those inspirational messages telling you to get out of your comfort zone aren’t just trying to sell you bungee cords. Doing something new and potentially scary can help you avoid burnout and is good for your brain. Still, it’s pretty tough to shake yourself out of a routine, and there’s plenty of science to explain why—and how—you do it.

Pushing the boundaries of your comfort zone is important, and when you do, it’s a pretty big deal. But what exactly is the “comfort zone”? Why is it that we tend to get comfortable with the familiar and our routines, but the shine fades so quickly when we encounter new and interesting things? And finally, what do we gain from breaking out of our comfort zone, and how do we do it? Answering these questions is a tall order, but it’s not that hard to do. Let’s get started.

Simply put, your comfort zone is a behavioral space where your activities and behaviors fit into a routine and pattern that minimizes stress and risk. It provides a state of mental safety. You benefit in obvious ways: regular happiness, low anxiety, and reduced stress.

The idea of the comfort zone goes back to a classic experiment in psychology. In 1908, psychologists Robert M. Yerkes and John D. Dodson explained that a state of relative comfort creates a stable level of performance. To maximize performance, however, we need a state of relative anxiety: a space in which our stress level is slightly higher than normal. This space is called “optimal anxiety,” and it’s just outside our comfort zone. Too much anxiety and we’re too stressed to be productive, and our performance plummets.