Do Hard Things
New research highlights the significance of tackling challenging tasks. It suggests that facing discomfort is a skill that can be built through practice and building this skill can impact all areas of our lives.
When we face discomfort in one area of life, it can make us more resilient in other areas too. A recent study tested this by exposing participants to their fear of spiders while leaving their fear of heights untreated. Surprisingly, after exposure therapy for spiders, participants also showed reduced fear of heights—even though they never confronted it directly. This suggests that overcoming discomfort in one domain builds broader emotional flexibility, helping us handle challenges in completely different areas. Similar research on resilience and stress tolerance supports this idea, showing that practicing discomfort—whether through controlled exposure, physical challenges, or mental exercises—can enhance our overall ability to cope with difficult situations.
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Translational Psychiatry (Nature) Spider & Heights StudyOpen →
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Trevor Ragan.
I run The Learner Lab. I dig into the research on how we learn and turn it into essays, video essays, and podcast episodes you can actually use. The whole point: help you get better at getting better.