Embracing discomfort, rather than avoiding it, can help us work towards our personal goals

By Matthew Warren In order to develop new skills or grow as a person, you often have to get out of your comfort zone. Say you want to become a better public speaker: you will have to get up and practice speaking in front of others, and that will likely feel awkward and uncomfortable at first. This can create barriers to personal growth, because those feelings of discomfort that you experience will come well before you will notice any improvement in your skills. As a result, you might feel that the negative emotional experience is not worth it, and give up on your goal. But what if we reframe our attitude towards discomfort, seeing it as a sign of progress and something to strive for rather than avoid? A new paper in Psychological Science suggests that this way of thinking can motivate people to work towards their goals. In the first study, Kaitlin Woolley from Cornell University and Ayelet Fishbach from the University of Chicago recruited 557 adults enrolled in beginner-level improvisation workshops. Participants took part in an improv exercise called “Give Focus”. This involves one member of the group moving around the room however they wish while the others are frozen in place; at some point the free-moving improviser chooses to pass the “focus” on to another member of the group, who then takes over. Before the exercise began, half of the participants were told that the goal was “to feel awkward and uncomfortable”, and that these feelings wer...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Emotion The self Source Type: blogs