When Stress and Discomfort are Good at Work

FROM FAST COMPANY / BY ART MARKMAN

It’s about reframing things to understand that you’re growing.

When you face a new or difficult situation, you often feel some combination of stress and discomfort. The stress reflects the potential for something to go wrong when you’re unsure of an outcome. The discomfort can include stress, but also the amount of hard work you need to when faced with an outcome that hangs in the balance.

Normally, we think of stress and discomfort as bad things. Yet, we know that being uncomfortable is not always a signal that something is wrong. As a hobby, I’m an endurance athlete. When you go on a long run, bike ride, or even a session on a rowing machine, you expect there to be a certain amount of discomfort as part of the process. Indeed, the discomfort is a sign that you are pushing your physical limits. You don’t start out comfortable with these kinds of endurance activities. Instead, you learn over time how much pain is a positive signal of growth and how much is a sign that you are actually doing physical damage to yourself.

Similarly, there is growing evidence that we can reframe some of the stress and discomfort we feel at work in positive ways. Research by Ayelet Fishbach and her colleagues has focused on discomfort in a variety of settings. They find that when people are learning something new or doing a difficult task, the tendency is to give up or to look for alternatives in the face of difficulty. However, if you tell people that stress and discomfort is a sign of learning, growth, and success, they persist longer and seek out new challenges.

These findings relate to research by Carol Dweck and her colleagues on mindsets. When people have a “fixed mindset” about their abilities, then they interpret frustration and discomfort as a sign that they have reached the limits of their capacity and should give up. But, when people adopt a “growth mindset” and focus on the belief that they can learn and improve at tasks, then frustration and discomfort are a sign of a learning opportunity.

That means there is value in reframing stress and discomfort as signals that you are starting to work at the limits of your capacity. Rather than giving up, lean into these feelings and use them as a sign that you are going to develop new skills. When facing stress and difficulty, though, do reach out to colleagues with more experience to get advice about how to handle new and uncertain situation. You should face the challenge, but get advice about the best way to handle it.

Of course, as valuable as it can be to lean into stressful situations, prolonged stress is a sign that something is wrong (just as significant pain can be a sign of injury to an athlete). When you are feeling significant stress beyond particular projects, it is time to sit down with your supervisor to talk about strategies. You may need to have some responsibilities shifted to other people to reduce your workload. You may need mentoring to help you through a tough stretch of work. You may want to take some classes to improve your skills.

Finally, just an athlete needs rest days as part of training, you need some oasis from stress—even if you find your workload to be manageable. Make sure you have a few tasks you’re working on that are predictable and well within your comfort zone. Also, do your best to focus on other things in your time away from work. You will find that you are most resilient when you are not always being pushed to your peak capacity.

Ultimately, a little stress and discomfort at work can be a healthy sign that you’re expanding your capacities. Learn to enjoy that feeling that you’re trying something new. Just make sure that you are also aware of when the stress of work is getting to be too much for your to handle.