One night back in college, I was frantically studying for a test when one of my buddies, on his way to the bar, turned back to me and parroted this classic line from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
For years after that, the ghost of Ferris Bueller haunted me. Every time I faced a challenge — a new boss, a new book, a new set of goals and expectations, or any other potential growth opportunity — Ferris Bueller would show up in my mind’s eye. Clad in his white t-shirt and leopard-print vest, Ferris looked into my eyes and asked if the alleged “growth” would really be worth the stress?
The logic of Ferris goes like this:
Sure, embracing change might grow your career, but what about the cost to your health and happiness? Do you really want to end up like Ferris’s chronically anxious and depressed friend Cameron, or Ferris’s uptight and resentful older sister?
It sounds reasonable. But research suggests Ferris might not have told me the whole story.
THE SCIENCE OF SUPER BELIEFS
A few years ago, researchers at the University of Texas led by David Yeager ran a series of experiments. In one of their studies, they asked people to give impromptu speeches. No preparation. No warning. Just walk into a room and deliver a speech to judges who — unbeknownst to you — have been trained to be unsupportive.
The judges give no reassuring smiles or encouraging nods. Nothing but cold stares, folded arms, and eye-rolls.
This highly unpleasant affair is called the “Trier Stress Test.” It’s been used in countless psychological experiments over the years because it works so well. Inevitably, it makes both our blood pressure and our feelings of anxiety spike. It elevates our heart rate, cortisol level, and virtually all other stress hormones.
But some people in the Texas study seemed more immune to the stress test than everyone else. Why?
Before this lucky group endured the stress test, the researchers had them watch a short video explaining two facts:
FACT 1 — Doing stressful, uncomfortable things is actually a great way for human beings to acquire necessary skills and abilities.
FACT 2 — Our body’s natural stress response is like a superpower that mobilizes our energy and delivers oxygenated blood to our brain right when we need it the most.
It was an encouraging discovery for Yeager’s team. But it wasn’t until months later when things got really interesting.
REAL LIFE STRESS TEST
What the Texas researchers did not know in late 2019 when they began their study, was that a real life stress test was right around the corner.
Fast forward to mid-2020. A mental health crisis has spread across the world faster than COVID-19. With an eye out for unexpected opportunities, Yeager and his team decided to track down the people from their original study.
The people who watched that short video one time, months before, were still reporting less anxiety and showing less physiological signs of stress than their peers. Meanwhile their perseverance and performance were increasing.
It seems that somewhere deep inside their brains, a switch had been permanently flipped. They used to believe stressful challenges were a bully to be avoided. They now believed stressful challenges were a powerful ally to befriend.
That one simple mindset shift changed everything.
WHAT FERRIS GOT RIGHT
It turns out that stressful changes are not the biggest threat to our health and happiness. The biggest threat to our health and happiness is the FEAR of stressful changes. Why?
The FEAR of stress causes us to avoid problems we could be solving…which turns days of stress into months of stress.
The FEAR of stress causes us to resist change when we could embrace it…which makes controllable stress feel uncontrollable.
The FEAR of stress shrinks our will when we could be growing our skill…which erodes our confidence, limits our development, and fuels our frustration.
Come to think of it, maybe that was Ferris’s point all along? Maybe the best form of self care is not to escape the discomfort of life and work, but to embrace it.
Instead of watching the parade pass you by, why not hop onboard and give it a try? Instead of hiding in your bed with the sheets pulled over your head, why not take a shot at being the Sausage King of the Midwest?
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THE RESEARCH
1. You can read the original article about the Texas study in the premier scientific journal Nature, which if you're a research geek is a big, big deal.
2. The technical term Yeager and his team assigned to their brief treatment is the "synergistic mindsets intervention," because it is a combination of both a "Growth Mindset intervention" and a "Stress-is-enhancing Mindset intervention". Past studies mostly done at Yeager's alma mater, Stanford University, have repeatedly found that both interventions are highly effective. But by combining the two into a single intervention, the Texas team has unlocked a "synergistic" effect on performance that is much greater and more robust than either mindset alone.
3. While most of these studies have been conducted on young adults and adolescents, the Texas team is currently preparing to test the results on working professionals of all ages. If your company would like to take part and sponsor the next wave of studies, let me know and I can connect you. Nick@nicktasler.com
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