Episode 9

full
Published on:

15th Apr 2026

Quick Spoon: Get comfortable being uncomfortable

If you could learn one skill to change your life — this might be it.

In this Quick Spoon, Jill Stoddard explains why willingness — not confidence — is the real key to growth.

A simple practice you can try immediately.

People Soup: Real conversations about work, leadership, and being human — grounded in behavioural science, with practical ideas you can actually use.

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Visit Ross' Website.

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Dr Jill Stoddard

Jill's Website.

Jill's Books.

Jill's TEDx Talk - How to Succeed in Every Moment Even When You're Failing

Connect with Jill on LinkedIn.

Transcript

Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

Jill: [:

Speaker 4: Hi there, and welcome to People Soup, quick Spoon, real conversations about work leadership and being human grounded in behavioral science. With practical ideas you can actually use. I'm Ross Macintosh and here's your quick spoon.

Jill: And so this is what I'm going to give the PSupers as a takeaway is I thought, God, if I could only teach human beings one thing, because if you only have 20 minutes, it's one thing

Ross: Sure.

't want to have. And I think [:

I won't say there's nothing you can't do. Like, obviously, no matter how willing I am, I'm never going to be an NBA basketball player. Right? I mean, obviously, obviously, there are some limits to what we can do. But if you have dreams and goals and aspirations, That you're not moving forward with, it's probably because you don't want to feel the feelings that come with that.

And if you're willing to feel feelings, there's like almost nothing that you can't move forward with that matters to you. And I like to teach people, silly ways to start practicing this because If I said to you like, Oh, just like, accept your panic attacks. That's not going to happen.

itch it so you're one finger [:

And so you can sort of use that expansion to make space for discomfort. But especially notice the urge to switch it back or the urge to let go. Because that's the feeling we so often respond to. On autopilot. I don't like this feeling. I'm just going to stop doing it. And so can you make space for both the funny feeling of the fingers and make space for the urge to like, get rid of the funny feeling, to go back to the right quote unquote, right way and just be with that.

Speaker 4: Growth often sits just on the other side of discomfort. If this landed for you, please pass it on. And if you'd like the full conversation with Dr. Jill s You'll find it wherever you get your podcasts.

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About the Podcast

People Soup
Real conversations about work, leadership and being human
A podcast exploring work, leadership, and being human through real conversations — grounded in behavioural science and full of practical ideas you can apply straight away.

About your host

Profile picture for Ross McIntosh

Ross McIntosh

I'm a work psychologist. I want to help you navigate the daily challenges of work by sharing behavioural science in a way that's accessible, useful and fun.
I'm originally from Northumberland in the UK and I now live near Seville in Spain with my husband.