The zone of desirable difficulty
Do you know the magic ratio of struggle to success that supercharges learning and growth?
It's 15% struggle to 85% success researchers have found. If a job's too easy, we get bored. Too hard, and we give up. 15% of the time learning, failing and adapting is the sweet spot.
It's called the Zone of Desirable Difficulty, where optimum growth happens. It's the formula for entering the flow state.
Think of it like lifting weights. If it’s effortless, you’re not building strength. If it’s impossible, you’re not building anything at all.
The right weight? It pushes you, stretches you, but doesn’t break you.
It’s easy to avoid the discomfort of learning by sticking to what we know. But the longer we do that, the harder it gets to face new challenges. Over time, the fear of struggle becomes a wall, one that holds back our growth and the growth of the business.
With the march of AI getting deeper into the fabric of business each month, learning to get uncomfortable again could quickly become a survival strategy.
So, what if instead of avoiding struggle, we started optimising for it.
What if we asked ourselves each month:
Am I struggling enough to learn each day?
Am I failing just enough?
Am I growing at the right pace?
And if the answers aren't all ticked yes, then it's time to search for a new challenge that will.
Want to receive a free summary of these blog posts each week? Enter your details below and you’ll get an email from me with three of the most liked blog posts from the previous week.