The Stretch Zone: That Tough Phase Before You Level Up

Aug 29, 2025 · 3 min read

The Stretch Zone

I’m struggling to find the right word for a phenomenon.

I’ve been thinking about writing about it for a while, but I still haven’t found the right label. The closest analogy I can give is when a baby learns to walk. The baby falls, gets hurt, cries, and throws tantrums during this phase. However, this is a process they need to go through before they’re able to walk. They’re better for it. It’s a rite of passage: a struggling, challenging phase that must be lived through.

Similarly, think of a blacksmith heating and hammering metal at extremely high temperatures. It’s a difficult process the work-in-progress must endure to become something strong and beautiful. The same with spectacular glass pieces, the extreme heat treatment is required before the final form emerges. During that treatment, it’s a tough, unforgiving phase.

We go through the same thing in our careers and lives. We enter a challenging learning process; we struggle, feel stressed, sometimes feel like impostors; we flirt with burnout and hit mind blocks. But after we pass through this phase, we come out better than before, more mature, more battle-hardened, and more capable.

This process is essential for self-development. No one develops truly challenging skill sets without going through it. What differentiates a winner from the rest is mindset. A winner embraces this phase because they know they’ll be better once that struggle is over. They will level up. Looking forward to growth is a mindset we need to actively cultivate.

From a learning-theory perspective, people describe this phase in a few useful ways. One is the “stretch zone”, working outside the comfort zone but short of panic. Another is the “conscious incompetence” stage in the Four Stages of Competence: the moment you can see the gap between where you are and what good looks like. It stings, and that sting drives focused learning. A third lens is deliberate practice: targeted, feedback-rich work at the edge of your current ability that is effortful and often not enjoyable in the moment, yet builds expertise over time.

As Muslims, we also know that Allah strengthens our īmān through trials and tribulations. The period may be hard, but, by His permission, we emerge better Muslims when the trial passes. The same resilience, patience, and persistence will help us grow in every area of life, bi’ithnillah.