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Re:Thinking with Adam GrantRe:Thinking with Adam Grant

Why a psychologist thinks you should seek discomfort

Most of us assume data-driven people make data-driven decisions. Not quite. Adam Grant has built a career helping others think more clearly — but when it comes to his own career, the most important calls he’s made didn’t have clear data behind them. So how did he decide? In this first episode of WorkLife with Molly Graham, Adam joins Molly to talk about how he actually navigates uncertainty — the four questions he asks before committing to any big project, what he calls “deliberate then dive”, and how he measures success when the numbers don’t tell the whole story. Featured guest Follow Adam on Instagram, LinkedIn, and at adamgrant.net/ Subscribe to Adam’s substack Join us in person at a TED conference: https://tedtalks.social/events Become a TED Member to support our mission: https://ted.com/membership Subscribe to a TED newsletter: https://ted.com/newsletters Follow our podcasts! Podcasts: https://www.ted.com/podcasts Fixable: https://www.ted.com/podcasts/fixable How to Be a Better Human: https://www.ted.com/podcasts/how-to-be-a-better-human ReThinking with Adam Grant: https://www.ted.com/podcasts/rethinking-with-adam-grant TED Talks Daily: https://www.ted.com/podcasts/ted-talks-daily TED Business: https://www.ted.com/podcasts/ted_business TED Health: https://www.ted.com/podcasts/ted-health TED Tech: https://www.ted.com/podcasts/ted-tech The TED Audio Collective is a collection of podcasts for the curious. The TED Audio Collective videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organiz...). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com.

Adam Grantguest
Apr 28, 20261mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Seeking discomfort can accelerate growth by rewiring how it feels

  1. Adam Grant argues that taking discomfort head-on has reliably helped him grow more quickly than avoiding it.
  2. He links his shift toward seeking discomfort to experiences where confronting fears (public performance and diving) led to positive outcomes.
  3. Positive reinforcement for facing fear and awkwardness can condition discomfort itself to feel rewarding over time.
  4. He suggests discomfort is not inherently negative and can become a signal of learning and improvement.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Growth often sits on the other side of avoided discomfort.

Grant’s experience is that engaging directly with what feels uncomfortable produces faster improvement than steering around it.

Repeated wins can train your brain to “like” discomfort.

When confronting fear or awkwardness consistently leads to rewards, discomfort can acquire secondary reward value, making you more willing to seek it out.

Fear and awkwardness are both practice targets.

He emphasizes not only overcoming fear (heights) but also pushing through social discomfort (performing on stage), treating both as learnable skills.

Discomfort can be reframed from threat to progress signal.

Instead of interpreting discomfort as a sign to stop, he treats it as evidence he’s doing something that will help him learn and get better.

Design reinforcement loops around uncomfortable actions.

His turning points involved clear positive reinforcement after taking the uncomfortable step, suggesting that pairing discomfort with rewards helps make the habit stick.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

I have repeatedly found throughout my life that when I take what makes me uncomfortable head-on and engage with it and embrace it, that I grow more and faster than if I don't.

— Adam Grant

And I love to learn. I love to get better.

— Adam Grant

I think this happened when, yeah, I went from shy introvert to magician on stage doing tricks.

— Adam Grant

And it happened when I went from afraid of heights to, like, doing flips and twists off a three-meter springboard, and even sometimes leaping off a 10-meter platform as a diver.

— Adam Grant

So discomfort doesn't have to feel bad. It's actually a good thing

— Adam Grant

Discomfort as a catalyst for growthPositive reinforcement and conditioningFear confrontation (stage performance, heights)Awkwardness toleranceSecondary reward propertiesLearning mindset and self-improvementReframing discomfort as beneficial

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