Why humans intentionally create obstacles and how these “walls” drive our growth and satisfaction
When given a simple foam pit to jump into, these children created their own challenge by building a wall to overcome
A few months ago, I took my son to a trampoline park and witnessed something fascinating. The facility provided a simple foam pit for children to jump into—a fun activity by most standards. Yet within minutes, something remarkable happened: the children had gathered foam blocks to construct a wall at the edge of the pit, creating an obstacle they would need to clear with each jump.
No one instructed them to do this. No one suggested that jumping into a pit wasn’t challenging enough. They instinctively created a harder version of the activity, turning a straightforward pleasure into a meaningful challenge.
This spontaneous behavior perfectly illustrates a concept I learned in a gamification class taught by Mario Herger: humans don’t just tolerate obstacles—we actively seek them out. We are, by nature, challenge-seeking creatures who derive profound satisfaction from overcoming difficulties, even ones we’ve created ourselves.
The Paradox of Voluntary Challenges
There’s something paradoxical about our relationship with obstacles. In many aspects of life, we strive to eliminate barriers and create efficiency. We develop technologies to make tasks easier, create shortcuts to save time, and remove friction from processes. Yet simultaneously, we go out of our way to create challenges for ourselves.
Consider the seemingly irrational choices we make in the name of challenge:
- Marathon runners who could travel 26.2 miles by car but choose to run instead
- Chess players who could use computers to find perfect moves but prefer to struggle through the complexity themselves
- Hikers who seek out the steepest, most difficult trails rather than easier paths
- Gamers who increase difficulty levels once they’ve mastered the basics
This seeming contradiction reveals a fundamental truth about human psychology: we don’t necessarily want the easiest path—we want the optimal level of challenge that stretches our abilities without overwhelming them. Ease doesn’t satisfy us nearly as much as earned achievement.
The Psychology Behind Challenge-Seeking
Why do we engage in this seemingly counterintuitive behavior? Psychologists and neuroscientists have identified several reasons humans are naturally drawn to challenges:
- Flow State: Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi identified that we experience our greatest satisfaction in a state called “flow”—the perfect balance between challenge and skill where we become fully immersed in an activity
- Dopamine Response: Our brains release rewarding neurochemicals when we overcome challenges, creating a natural incentive to seek out and conquer obstacles
- Skill Development: Challenges push us to develop new capabilities and expand our boundaries
- Social Comparison: Overcoming obstacles provides measurable ways to gauge our abilities against others and ourselves over time
“Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health.” This observation from psychologist Carl Jung captures how integral challenge is to our psychological well-being. Without meaningful obstacles to overcome, we often feel adrift and unstimulated.
Designed Challenges vs. Self-Imposed Challenges
Challenges come in two primary forms: those designed for us and those we create ourselves. Both serve important functions in driving engagement and satisfaction.
Designed Challenges are intentionally created by others to engage us. Examples include:
- The carefully placed sand traps on golf courses that make the game more difficult but also more engaging
- Video game levels that progressively increase in difficulty to match player skill development
- Academic curricula designed to challenge students at the edge of their capabilities
- Corporate objectives that stretch employee performance beyond comfortable limits
Self-Imposed Challenges, like the foam wall built by the children at the trampoline park, emerge from our own initiative:
- Athletes who set personal goals beyond what competition requires
- Musicians who attempt more difficult pieces than necessary for their performances
- Writers who impose constraints like word limits or challenging structures
- Hobbyists who continually raise their standards of excellence
What’s particularly interesting is that self-imposed challenges often emerge even within environments that already contain designed challenges—we instinctively calibrate difficulty to our optimal level.
The Goldilocks Zone of Challenge
Not all challenges are created equal. The most engaging obstacles exist in what we might call the “Goldilocks zone”—not too easy, not too hard, but just right for our current abilities.
Too little challenge leads to boredom and disengagement. When tasks require minimal effort relative to our skills, we quickly lose interest. This explains why the children at the trampoline park weren’t satisfied with simply jumping into the foam pit—it didn’t challenge them enough to maintain engagement.
Conversely, too much challenge results in frustration and anxiety. When obstacles seem insurmountable, we’re likely to give up entirely. The ideal challenge stretches us enough to require effort and growth but remains within the realm of possible achievement.
Effective gamification harnesses this principle by dynamically adjusting challenge levels to match user capabilities. The most engaging games, educational programs, and fitness applications constantly recalibrate difficulty to keep users in this optimal zone of engagement.
Challenge as a Path to Growth
Perhaps the most profound aspect of our challenge-seeking behavior is how it drives personal growth. By continuously engaging with obstacles at the edge of our capabilities, we naturally expand those capabilities over time.
The principle operates across various domains of human experience:
- Physical Development: Progressive overload in exercise—gradually increasing weight, duration, or intensity—builds strength and endurance
- Cognitive Growth: Tackling increasingly complex problems expands our mental capabilities and problem-solving skills
- Emotional Resilience: Managing challenging situations builds our capacity to handle stress and adversity
- Creative Expansion: Working within constraints often forces innovative thinking and novel solutions
The foam wall the children built wasn’t just about immediate enjoyment—it was unconsciously serving their developmental needs by creating opportunities to test and expand their physical capabilities.
Finding Your Foam Wall
The children’s foam wall serves as a powerful metaphor for the challenges we need in our own lives. Just as they instinctively created an obstacle that made their activity more engaging and growth-promoting, we too need to identify and construct the right challenges for ourselves.
Consider these questions when seeking your optimal challenges:
- What is your current skill level? Honest assessment helps identify challenges that will stretch but not overwhelm you
- What feels both exciting and slightly intimidating? The sweet spot often comes with both enthusiasm and a touch of anxiety
- Are you growing or maintaining? If you find yourself comfortably executing the same skills without improvement, your challenges may be insufficient
- What constraints could make your current activities more engaging? Sometimes adding limitations (time, resources, methods) can transform routine tasks into meaningful challenges
The most fulfilling challenges are often those aligned with our intrinsic motivations and values. When obstacles serve meaningful personal goals rather than external validation, they become powerful drivers of both satisfaction and growth.
Building Better Obstacles
The wisdom of children building foam walls reminds us that challenges aren’t merely obstacles to overcome—they’re essential components of engagement, satisfaction, and growth. Without them, even inherently enjoyable activities quickly lose their appeal.
This understanding has profound implications across contexts. Parents and educators can design better learning experiences by calibrating challenges to children’s developing abilities. Business leaders can create more engaging work environments by providing appropriately difficult objectives. And individually, we can enhance our own fulfillment by consciously designing and seeking the right level of challenge in our personal and professional lives.
The next time you find yourself bored with an activity or feeling stagnant in your growth, remember the children at the trampoline park. Perhaps what you need isn’t to eliminate obstacles but to build better ones—your own foam walls that transform simple pleasures into meaningful challenges and catalysts for growth.
Join the Conversation
What “foam walls” have you built in your life? Have you ever created self-imposed challenges that enhanced your engagement or growth? Or do you need to construct new obstacles to push yourself beyond your current capabilities? Share your experiences in the comments below!