Transcript of Why Hard Challenges are Good for You: Lessons from Astronauts – Martina Löfqvist

We have an abundance of food that comes from all corners of the world that we can find in our local supermarkets. And we have developed advanced transportation systems that can take us to any place on this planet, even into space. All of these conveniences have contributed to making our lives easier. But how have they made our lives better?

I’m here to show you that your best life starts at the edge of your comfort zone. And to do that, I’m going to show some really interesting findings on how stepping outside of your comfort zone not only brings you closer to your dreams, but it also has a positive impact on your mental health and well-being, which is particularly important in today’s world where mental health issues are skyrocketing.

Why Comfort Is So Seductive

So let’s understand why comfort is so seductive to begin with. Us humans are hardwired for comfort. It’s a survival instinct from our ancestors, deeply rooted in our history. It helps us save energy. As hunter-gatherers, they served us well. Food was scarce. And we needed to preserve our energies for unexpected dangers from predators and harsh environments. While our circumstances have completely changed, these instincts haven’t.

While hunter-gatherers were constantly pushed to go outside of their comfort zones, we have everything we need to survive with little effort. The problem is that if we become used to this comfort, over time it gets harder for us to go outside of it. For example, the sense of safety that you feel from staying at home can make it more difficult to go out later. Or the relief of avoiding an uncomfortable conversation with your boss, a partner, or a friend makes it even harder to have that conversation. And the convenience of using apps to avoid the awkwardness of meeting new people lowers your social skills over time.

Our comfort-seeking instincts just don’t serve us well in today’s world. The more you postpone uncomfortable situations, the harder it gets to face them later. So we need to make an effort to go outside of our comfort zone.

Lessons from Astronauts

Let’s have a look at astronauts. They have really pushed the boundaries of their comfort zones. They’ve spent weeks and sometimes months in uncomfortable and challenging environments in space. I sat down with six of them to try to understand their choices and their experiences. What really surprised me was that none of them saw their time in space as particularly challenging. Why is this?

Let’s think of the comfort zone as a circle. Everything outside of this is discomfort. When we start venturing outside of our comfort zone, and we do this on a consistent basis, our comfort zone expands. Astronauts have expanded their comfort zones to a point where space travel has become a part of it through the many challenges that they had to endure during astronaut training, both physically and mentally.

I asked astronaut Pedro Duque about this, and he told me that one of the most challenging experiences that he had leading up to space travel was during survival training, where they have to spend multiple days in harsh environments, such as freezing temperatures in the Arctic Circle, in the jungle, and also in open waters, to be prepared in case the spacecraft capsule would land in the middle of nowhere upon returning to Earth, and you have to wait for rescue. Now, for some of us, just the idea of spending a few days in the jungle, where you have to figure out which plants you can eat and avoiding venomous snakes, might be way too far outside of our comfort zone.

The Three Zones: Comfort, Stretch, and Panic

So let’s make another circle, and we call this the stretch zone. This is a space just beyond our comfort zone, where we take on challenges that are at the right level for us. Everything outside of this is the panic zone. This is when the challenges become too big, where we start feeling extreme stress and out of control, where we activate the fight, flight, and freeze response. If we spend a lot of time in the panic zone, it can even be detrimental to our health.

Astronauts should never get into their panic zone while in space. In fact, they shouldn’t even be getting into the stretch zone. That’s why they spend years and years of preparing for their space missions, testing out all kinds of situations and scenarios so that they can stay calm even if something goes wrong. I asked Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier about his experience in space, and he said that at one time he had to briefly step into a stretch zone while he was fixing the Hubble telescope, and it didn’t go as planned. He ended up spending over eight hours outside of the spacecraft, getting close to the time limit of the time you can be inside your spacesuit.

If you think about it, we all started with a tiny comfort zone. As children, we learn new things that are in our stretch zone, such as learning how to walk, making new friends, testing out our physical limits, and our comfort zone expands. As we get older, some of us spend less time stretching the boundaries of the comfort zone. Others never stop.

The amazing thing about going after hard challenges again and again is that we transform. Astronaut Robert Zursch, who has spent over 200 days in space, said it well: “When you operate at the limits of your abilities, you figure out what you can do, and you find yourself.”

The Neuroscience Behind Challenge-Taking

Let’s have a look at neuroscience to understand what happens inside our brains. We have a region in our brain called the anterior mid-cingulate cortex. This is a very interesting part of our brain involved in effort-based decision-making, which means that when we are taking on challenges that require effort, our brain will evaluate the level of energy needed and consider whether the effort is worth the potential reward.

Research has shown that rewards play a significant role in activating the anterior mid-cingulate cortex. Astronaut Mike Fole, who has been to space six times, said it well: “Most people will only suffer if there’s a reward for their suffering.” In other words, rewards help us take on hard challenges.

Another interesting thing about this brain region is that it is highly plastic, which means that it can change over time. So when we take on hard challenges on a consistent basis, this part of the brain actually grows in volume. It’s much like exercising a muscle. When you activate the anterior mid-cingulate cortex and you do this on a consistent basis, it expands and it decreases when we don’t.

As a part of the natural aging process, our brains decline over time. Large declines are related to conditions such as Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. However, when we activate this part of the brain, we can offset some of those age-related volume losses. In an experiment by Kolkom and colleagues, they found that an older adult who would regularly exercise in aerobic training over a period of six months had significant increases in brain volume, including the anterior mid-cingulate cortex, compared to the control group that didn’t. This is because it required effort, both in terms of the training itself, but also in terms of getting to the training.

There’s also been research found on super-agers, older adults who have significant cognitive abilities, that they have a more active anterior mid-cingulate cortex. What we can take from this is that this comfort has a direct link to our cognitive health. The final thing I’d like to share about this brain region is that it also builds willpower, which is our ability to overcome obstacles and challenges to pursue goals. We can build more willpower.

Willpower is something that has been studied for centuries, dating back to ancient Greece. But it’s not until recently, with technologies such as MRI scanners, that we’ve been able to really study the mechanisms inside the brain that builds willpower. Today, research confirms that willpower is not a fixed trait and that we can build more of it. And the more we have of it, the better equipped we are to tackle hard challenges, which builds even more willpower, and so on.

When I asked astronauts what helped them go through many of their challenges, willpower was one of the words that most of them described. And it only happens when we take on challenges in our stretch zone.

Choosing the Right Type of Challenges

So, how do we do this? What type of challenges should we engage in? Well, it turns out that the type of challenge really matters. I’ve already mentioned that it needs to be challenges that require significant effort. We’re not talking about habits, those activities that you would normally do, such as morning routines or related to your training schedule. Those are neural circuits that you already have, even if they are more challenging on some days.

We’re talking about activities that are new and hard to do, that requires effort and neural energy. So, to have a better understanding of the type of challenges, let’s look at a few examples. We can use a rather simple framework by splitting our life into four major areas, and then we can identify where we might want to expand our comfort zones.

Four Areas for Expanding Your Comfort Zone

So, in the first area, it’s related to our physical and mental health. So, this could be challenges in terms of sports, diets, mindfulness. A challenge could either be to engage in a certain activity, or it could be to resist an activity, like resist eating certain foods if you’re dieting.

In the next area, we have education. This is related to academic pursuits or learning a new skill. I heard from one of the astronauts that he is currently challenging himself through personal development after many years of challenges in his career, which brings me to the next one.

In our career, we could decide to take on a complex project, pursue a new role, or perhaps even start a company. I heard a great story from astronaut Steve Swanson of how he, many years ago, while working as a construction worker, felt stuck, unchallenged, and wanted to do more with his life. So, he started researching alternative paths and decided to challenge himself to become an astronaut. Since then, he has spent almost 200 days in space and been on five spacewalks.

In the last one, we have our relationships in life, related to family, our friends, and our community. For astronauts, relationships are incredibly important. They have to spend sometimes months in small quarters with other crew members from all kinds of backgrounds and nationalities. The astronaut community is known for its close bonds and lifelong relationships.

Finding Your Stretch Zone

Of course, our comfort zones in all of these differ in size. So, the first thing to do is to select one area where you might be playing it safe at the moment. So, let’s say you want to do something about your health. The next thing is to pick a challenge that has some sort of reward, because rewards, they activate your anterior mid-cingulate cortex.

So, for example, maybe you’ve dreamt of becoming a marathon runner. This was one of my challenges last year. It might seem a little bit scary, but as astronaut Tony Antonelli says, “People are afraid of all kinds of things. You don’t get to choose what you’re afraid of. You decide what to do about it,” and it’s up to you to tackle those fears. Tony told me that he was afraid of heights and flying, but he had to overcome those fears in order to become an astronaut.

So, the key thing here is to pick a challenge that is in your stretch zone. If you’re not a runner today, then running a marathon would be in your panic zone. So, if you want to pick something that is in your stretch zone, perhaps it would be to just join a running club. For me, running a marathon was already in my stretch zone because I was used to running.

The Path to an Extraordinary Life

So, while comfort is extremely seductive in today’s society, given all conveniences and our comfort-seeking instincts, when we make the effort to challenge ourselves, we set the path for a better life, one of more willpower and confidence to tackle new, unavoidable challenges in the future, and one of better cognitive abilities. And perhaps we might even achieve extraordinary things in our life, contributing to human progress and inspiring others.

As astronaut Mike Full said, “Only through embracing discomfort can we truly appreciate life’s most beautiful experiences.” Comfort is a choice. While it feels great at the moment, our ability to overcome challenges is a part of our evolutionary heritage, too.

Think about what makes a great story. It is one that is filled with challenges and how they were overcome. In life, you are the main character in your story. Don’t live your life trying to avoid those challenges. They are what makes your story worth telling. Your best life starts at the edge of your comfort zone.

Thank you very much.

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