Challenge: what is it and why’s it good for us
What is it?
Challenge is anything that stretches you beyond what you're currently capable of. Think of your ability to embrace challenge as like a muscle. Lift a weight you can already manage with ease and the muscle doesn’t grow. Lift one that's just beyond your current ability, however, and your muscle gets stronger and bigger. But lift too heavy and you get injured.
There is a formula that we love for growth: Stress (i.e. challenge) + Rest = Growth. No stress (no challenge) and we stagnate - we do not grow. But too much stress and/ or not enough rest, we become depleted and, if left unchecked, burn out.
So there is this sweet spot where the challenge is just enough to stretch us but not too much that we snap. We call this your “Growth Zone.”
Why do we need it?
Because your capacity for growth is directly tied to your capacity for embracing challenge. Without it, you cruise along on autopilot. We see this a lot: brilliant, driven people who've got every external marker of success, yet feel like they've plateaued.
Why? Because they've stopped stretching themselves. The growth zone is where presentations get delivered despite nerves, where new skills get built, where resilience is forged. Stay in your comfort zone however and you simply will not grow. You may feel very competent, doing what comes easily, but you would leaving a life of deep satisfaction and fulfillment on the table.
How do we get it?
It starts with the mindset you have towards stress and challenge. To see it not as something to be avoided, but as something to be actively sought after and embraced. It is important here that we also distinguish between “good” and “bad” stressors.
“Bad” stressors are the unproductive stressors which do not lead to growth - the checking email as soon as you wake up, the back-to-back meetings with no buffer. “Good” stressors are the short-term stressors which enable us to grow - the public speaking, HIIT workout, cold plunge or taking on a challenging project at work.
We want to first reduce our exposure to bad stressors, eliminating them where possible (i.e. not having our phone in the bedroom, planning our diary to have buffers between meetings). That way, we have increased our capacity to lean into the good, productive stressors.
We need to simply get uncomfortable. We need to identify where and how we can stretch ourselves through these good stressors, so that we can grow.
Three questions to ask yourself:
How can I upgrade my mindset towards stress? To see the spike of nerves and pressure as fuel for performance.
What are some "unproductive" stressors I could eliminate this week to increase my capacity to rise to the challenges that matter?
In which key areas of my life do I need to stretch myself more?
