Leadership Today - Practical Tips For Leaders
Business:Management
Research demonstrates that becoming comfortable with discomfort is the key to progress.
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to episode 147 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we bring research to life in your leadership. This week we explore research demonstrating that becoming comfortable with discomfort is the key to progress.
Learning new things requires us to step out of our comfort zone. If we’re feeling comfortable, we’re not learning.
But it’s also natural to want to avoid discomfort. That can steer us away from new learning experiences.
New research shows that how we interpret discomfort impacts our ability to continue learning. The research by Woolley and Fishbach involved participants undertaking an improvisation class. Half of the group were given instructions for the activity and told the aim of the activity was to feel awkward and uncomfortable. The other half were also given instructions, but not instructed around feeling awkward and uncomfortable.
The researchers found that the group encouraged to feel awkward and uncomfortable spent more time actively improvising and took greater risks. They undertook more practice which gave them a greater opportunity to enhance their skills.
When we’re looking to grow and develop, we should anticipate and embrace feelings of awkwardness and discomfort. Instead of seeing these feelings as reasons to stop, we should instead see them as signs of progress and development. Changing our mindset around discomfort can help us to progress and develop.
REFERENCE
Woolley K, Fishbach A. Motivating Personal Growth by Seeking Discomfort. Psychological Science. 2022;33(4):510-523. doi:10.1177/09567976211044685
Episode 61 - "People Fifth" - When Good Values Go Bad
Episode 60 - Great Teams Manage Task, Process and Relationships
Episode 59 - Approach or Avoidance - It Comes Down to Your Personality
Episode 58 - Curiosity: Bad for Cats, Good for Business
Midweek Motivate - Close Relationships Boost Self-Esteem, and Self-Esteem Boosts Relationships
Episode 57 - Nine Ways to Rid Yourself of Impostor Syndrome
Bonus Replay - Optimism and Resilience
Bonus Replay - Leadership First Impressions
Midweek Motivate - Making the First Day Great
Episode 56 - Entrance Interviews Beat Exit Interviews
Midweek Motivate - Doing Less With Less, But More of the Right Things
Episode 55 - Why Exit Interviews Often Stink and Seven Things To Do About It
Midweek Motivate - Insert A Gap
Episode 54 - Five Tips To Level Up Your Listening
Midweek Motivate - Looper
Episode 53 - The Ten Best Podcasts for Leaders in 2019
Midweek Motivate - Removing Frustrations
Episode 52 - Faking Extraversion Boosts Well-Being - What’s All That About?
Episode 51 - Confidence in Action
Episode 50 - Seven Reasons to Get Back to Nature
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Bank of America Treasury Insights
Human Capital Leadership
The Power of Music Thinking
BusinessWISE
Business Wars