Becoming Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
Friday Learning Notes
No one likes being uncomfortable.
Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and someone I deeply admire, frequently shares the truth that if you really care about justice and making this world better, you have to choose to put yourself in uncomfortable situations.
This is true not only if you want to change the world, but it is also true if you want to change yourself and be an effective learner. Becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable is a powerful capacity that helps us reach our goals, find better answers, and increase our creativity.
In the TED talk, How Frustration Can Make Us More Creative, Tim Harford shares two stories I find really compelling.
The first story is about American jazz musician Keith Jarrett who almost cancelled a concert in Cologne, Germany because the piano that was provided was dilapidated and virtually “unplayable.” At the behest of the teenage concert organizer Vera Brandes, he played the “unplayable” piano and improvised what became both the best-selling piano album and the best-selling solo jazz album in history.
Listen to it here:
I love this story for two reasons. It speaks to how we can approach this messy world we are all trying to make better and use that messiness to bring out our creativity and innovation.
The “unplayable piano” is also a fitting metaphor for our own selves — for who among us is not broken or inadequate in some way, is not working in a broken organization, or is not living in a broken family — and yet we are still capable of creating beauty and serving meaningfully in this world.
The second story Tim shared was about an experiment that compared how groups of four students solved a difficult problem. Half the groups were four friends who knew each other well. The other half of the groups were comprised of three friends and a stranger to create awkwardness.
Surprisingly, the study showed that the groups of four friends only had a 50% chance of getting the answer right, while the groups of three friends and a stranger (with no extra information) had a 75% chance of finding the right answer.
What was most interesting in this experiment was how the participants felt about their answers. The four friends had a nice time and thought they’d done a good job (which they hadn’t). They were complacent.
The three friends and the stranger felt awkward and didn’t think they’d done a good job, when in fact they had done much better.
When was the last time you let yourself work through discomfort or sought out people you knew had views at variance with yours?
What new insights could you gain if you did?
Interacting with people who are different from us can make us feel a bit uncomfortable, but it can also help us discover the best solutions.
#AlwaysLearning
Roy
Our Friday Learning Notes series is designed to share insights from Omidyar Network’s journey to become a best-in-class learning organization. Grab a cup of coffee and start your own Friday morning learning journey! *warning: side effects of regular reading may include improved mood, upswing in dinner party conversation, and/or increased desire to cultivate learning for social impact
