The Beauty of Discomfort | Amanda Lang | TEDxQueensU

Why do some people drive change while others are blindsided by it?

Why are some people able to adapt and thrive?

How can we make change easier?

Truly successful people don’t merely tolerate discomfort—they embrace it and seek it out again and again. Business founders and university students, top athletes and couch potatoes, meditation gurus and military leaders all have very different ways of coping with discomfort, but the most successful among them believe that withstanding discomfort is a skill that has helped them in hugely positive ways. Some were forced into discomfort through no choice of their own—a life-altering illness, a business fiasco—while others signed up for it because they had goals they were determined to achieve.

Some degree of discomfort is inherently good for you. It can spur you on, pushing you to test your own limits. Learning to tolerate, and then embrace, discomfort is the foundation for change, for individuals and businesses alike. Becoming comfortable with discomfort won’t just make us more resilient and more successful, however we define success. It will also make us happier. Award-winning business journalist Amanda Lang has been covering business in North America for 20 years. Based in Toronto, Canada, Lang is an anchor and reporter for Bell Media, including as an anchor on Business News Network, and as a reporter for CTV News, and across its media platforms. She is also host of a podcast to air on iHeart Radio in 2018. Lang has been an anchor for Bloomberg Television, as the host of Bloomberg North with Amanda Lang. Previously, Lang was CBC’s senior business correspondent, reporting for its flagship nightly news program, The National, and host of The Exchange with Amanda Lang, a daily business program airing on CBC News Network. For five years before that, Lang hosted The Lang and O’Leary Exchange, with television personality Kevin O’Leary. Prior to that, the pair co-hosted SqueezePlay, on BNN, for six years. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx