Frustrated? How To Effect Change By Stepping Out Of Your Comfort Zone

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Luvvie Ajayi has been described as a “professional troublemaker” and she embraces the description. “I realized it’s a good title for me," she said. "Writers and creatives are the ones who push the envelope in culture.” Increasingly, she sees speaking truth to power as part of her job.

Luvvie Ajayi speaks at TEDWomen 2017 — Bridges, November 1-3, 2017, Orpheum Theatre, New Orleans, LouisianaRyan Lash/TED

In Ajayi’s compelling TED talk, which kicked off TEDWomen in New Orleans last month, she made a powerful call to action for all of us to make some trouble of our own.

Do It Scared

It took time for Ajayi to recognize her own power. She’d been writing for nine years before she identified as a writer. She describes the fear of losing her 401k and ability to support her shoe habit as part of what prevented her from embracing her identity as a writer saying, “Fear has a very concrete power of keeping us from doing and saying the things that are our purpose.”

In 2015, Ajayi shifted gears. She decided that if something scared her she’d do it anyway. From skydiving to writing her first book I’m Judging You: The Do-Better Manual, she actively pursued what evoked fear instead of just continuing with what was already comfortable.

Kathryn Childers, one of the first female United States Secret Service agents, shared a similar reflection when talking to the Texas Women Rainmakers last year. Through rich anecdotes about Jackie O. and the Queen of Spain, Childers described her experiences protecting the first family and foreign heads of state. When she talked about her success in the service, Childers said it wasn't that she wasn't scared – it’s that she didn’t let the fear take control.

Like Childers, Ajayi experiences fear when she takes professional and personal risks, but they both feel called to take action nonetheless.

Be the First Domino

Since courage inspires courage, Ajayi calls for us to think of ourselves as the domino, inspiring a chain reaction. She said, “There are too few people willing to be the domino,” to serve as a catalyst by doing or saying what’s difficult.

For change to happen Ajayi thinks we need to get uncomfortable. “Being quiet is comfortable. Keeping things the way they've been is comfortable. And all comfort has done is maintain the status quo.” For a lot of us, just the idea of being the first domino is enough to make us uncomfortable.

You don’t have to identify as a professional troublemaker or serve as a trailblazing Secret Service agent to have an impact. Ajayi describes the need for us to recognize our power and harness it through collaboration. Even if, individually, we’re the second- or third-most powerful person in the room, we can become the most powerful by joining forces.

As she put together the talk, Ajayi says that her goal was for listeners to realize that they don’t have to wait for other people to take action. We can take it upon ourselves even, or perhaps especially, when it’s scary.


