The Science Of Discomfort: Building Resilience In Life And Business

Forbes

12 hours ago

The first season of National Geographic's Limitless focused on extreme stunts and life-extension experiments. The new Limitless: Live Better Now still delivers those visually stunning moments, but it leans harder into the science — and into lessons viewers can put into practice.
I had a chance recently to sit down with Chris Hemsworth and talk about the experiences for the second season. When I asked him what his personal blueprint for 'living better now' would look like, he didn't talk about chasing bigger feats. His answer was much simpler: get comfortable being uncomfortable.
'It has to be personal to what's available, but also to where you think your threshold is,' he told me. 'Just… poking the bear, so to speak — tapping into that discomfort, exposing yourself to those places that are slightly unfamiliar or there's a slightly elevated risk. Because it builds part of the brain that functions around willpower. And every time you overcome fears or discomfort, you're teaching yourself you have further skills and abilities than you thought you had yesterday or prior to that experience.'
That's a message that resonates well beyond physical performance. The same mindset applies to cyber and business resilience: regularly testing your systems, exposing weak points and training for recovery before a real crisis forces you to.
Why discomfort works
The series delves into the science behind this philosophy. Modern life is engineered for ease — climate-controlled rooms, instant communication, friction-free transactions. Comfort isn't the enemy, but too much of it erodes adaptability. Neuroscience shows that novelty and manageable stress stimulate neuroplasticity – the brain's ability to form new connections. It also trains the prefrontal cortex and limbic system to coordinate under pressure, improving decision-making when things go wrong.
Hemsworth explained that he sees the same dynamic in daily life. 'We're so geared towards seeking comfort these days,' he said. 'Everything is temperature-controlled, everything's set to avoid discomfort. That's where we've lost a sense of resilience. Our problems — which aren't really problems — become our entire identity. Removing some of those safety nets and barriers is incredibly healthy.'
Science in the field
The series approaches resilience as more than a mindset — it's treated like a skill set that can be trained, measured and improved. Hemsworth engaged in demanding physical and mental challenges designed to push him well beyond his baseline and trigger measurable stress responses.
These weren't done purely for spectacle; they were structured as experiments in how the body and mind adapt under sustained pressure.
Working with experts like palliative care physician Dr. BJ Miller, he explored methods for reframing discomfort and shifting perception so that pain or fear becomes something manageable rather than paralyzing. The science behind these efforts draws from disciplines such as neuroplasticity, stress inoculation and flow psychology — all of which show that controlled exposure to challenge can enhance cognitive function, coordination and focus.
'Movement creates motivation,' Hemsworth told me. 'Don't sit around waiting for some sort of light bulb. Just get up and take those steps, make those choices. Seek new adventures, seek new experiences.'
Bringing it home
The value is in the principle. 'What might be a big risk or fear or discomfort for me is very different to the next person,' Hemsworth said. 'We all know in our quieter moments where our thresholds lie, so visit them a bit more often.'
That means finding ways to replicate stress/recovery cycles in everyday life: finishing a workout you'd rather skip, taking a cold shower, going device-free for an afternoon or tackling a skill you've avoided. These are manageable, repeatable actions that gradually expand your capacity to handle the unexpected.
A practical, science-backed routine
Why it matters now
The right kind of stress — deliberate, measured and recoverable — builds both mental and physical reserves. That capacity to absorb disruption and adapt under pressure is what keeps individuals functioning during personal crises. It's also what keeps organizations steady when markets shift or attackers strike.
In cybersecurity, that resilience is built through red-team exercises, patch testing and incident simulations that expose weaknesses in a controlled environment. In operations, it comes from scenario planning and stress-testing supply chains. The parallels to personal training are direct: small, regular challenges make the system — human or organizational — more capable of surviving the big ones.
Whether you're defending a network or navigating your own life, resilience is rarely built in the moment of crisis. It's forged in the moments when you choose to lean into difficulty. As Hemsworth put it: 'The more familiar we are with unfamiliar, the more comfortable we are with uncomfortable. We prepare ourselves for whatever life's gonna throw at us.'
The series isn't just a travelogue of feats. It's a blueprint for resilience, showing how biology, psychology and lived experience combine to create adaptability. And the science works — in business as in life — if you're willing to get a little uncomfortable.
All episodes of Limitless: Live Better Now are available to stream on Hulu & Disney+ beginning August 15. The series will air on National Geographic on August 25.