Late last year at Bridge Summit, I hosted a fireside with Michelle Khare and one idea kept coming up: Intentional discomfort fuels elite performance.

It made me think that if “just start” is beginner creator advice (which I love btw), here’s what advanced creators need to hear.

Build an experimental mindset and operating system

Not random swings, panic pivots or throwing out your format every time a video dips and you have a mild existential crisis.

An operating system, because experimentation is easy when you’re small. Often it’s everything.

When you’ve got nothing to lose you can throw stuff at the wall. You test. You play. You don’t overthink it. It’s rad.

But once something works and the audience grows, revenue comes in - maybe you’ve got a team - things change and you’ve now got something to lose.

Over time that can turn into protection - a place where experimentation goes to die.

Early-stage creators fear not breaking through.

Established creators fear loss. Loss of views, brand deals, audience trust, momentum, relevancy…

So you optimise, systemise, refine and repeat to protect what works. Which is smart (for a while).

However, optimisation has a sneaky side effect. It turns into insulation.

You stop asking: What could this become? And start asking: How do I not break this?

This is when things stagnate. Not because you stopped working hard, but because you stopped experimenting.

Michelle describes it as the Goldilocks zone of fear.

Too little? You’re coasting.
Too much? You’re paralysed (or doing something bloody reckless)
Just enough? You’re growing.

That’s the zone you’re looking for.

Not chaos or recklessness. Intentional.

There’s a big difference between intentional discomfort and just plain recklessness. And that’s designing for it.

Most creators experiment reactively.

For example, something feels stale, boring, or the numbers dip, so they swing blindly and try something completely different.

That’s not experimentation. That’s instability.

An experimental operating system looks more like this:

1) Don’t break what’s working

Keep the engine running. You don’t need to abandon what works. That’s your foundation that creates the opportunity for growth.

2) Make room for experiments

Intentionally allocate time, budget, or space for higher-risk ideas.

Michelle balanced reliable content with passion projects early on. These were harder, scarier, less predictable ideas.

Those experiments didn’t just keep things fresh for her. They turned into the next chapter and made her the (Emmy nominated) creator she is today.

3) Know what you’re testing

Before you run your experiment (whether that’s a new video format, a CTA, launching your email newsletter), ask:

What are we actually testing?
What does success look like?
What signals actually matter (and what doesn’t)?

If you can’t answer those, it’s not an experiment. It’s hope. And hope’s not a strategy.

Failure is ok. It’s more than ok. Failure can be great. But only if there’s learning from that failure. And every failure is an opportunity to learn.

Failure without analysis is just damage. But if you learn, you win.

One thing that really stood out in my chat with Michelle (and with other top creators) is that the best creators still do the uncomfortable bits themselves.

They make the pitch, send the outreach, sit in the negotiation, and make the ask.

Michelle talked about calling cold numbers. Sending ambitious emails. Chasing collaborations that sound impossible.

Because this is where the growth happens.

A lot of creators believe:
“When I get bigger, this part goes away.”

It doesn’t.

The discomfort just becomes more strategic.

The creators who keep evolving are the ones willing to step into it deliberately.

Now let’s make this practical, here’s your move this week.

Pick one designed experiment.

It doesn’t need to be dramatic - just one controlled shift. But it should make you feel slightly uncomfortable.

Then do these two things before you release this into the wild:

This creator wanted to grow their email list.

So, instead of overhauling their entire content strategy, they designed a controlled experiment.

Their test was simple:  would intentional, direct calls-to-action meaningfully increase email signups?

So they kept their core content exactly the same - keeping the engine running.

Then they layered in:

This was new and uncomfortable as they’d never done it before.

They also didn’t change everything at once. They changed one variable -intentionally promoted their email list - and tracked signups each time..

The results spoke for themselves. Every time they promote their email list, signups spike.

Now it’s not a guess. It’s a lever. And they have continued to refine this activity to optimize it.

This is how you experiment, lean into the discomfort and stay curious without becoming chaotic (or reckless).

Afterall, the creator economy doesn’t reward safety. It rewards people who can innovate, experiment and learn from being comfortable with discomfort.

“Just start” is still bloody great advice. However the long game needs the experimentation operating system.

✌️
Ant
Changer Co-Founder

Btw here’s our experiment below.

So we can send you the best info & insights.

The Creator Economy, Decided @ AiMCO Summit

Next week Ant is taking the stage at AiMCO Summit in Sydney alongside Inside the Creator Economy’s Jim Louderback.

They’ll be gazing into their crystal ball to share their hot takes on the future shape of the creator economy.

Get your Changer community discount: access member-priced tickets with the code ‘CHANGER’ at checkout.

Creators Trove: Open House, Sydney
Sunday March 1 March

Changer community member, Parker Floris, is hosting Creators Trove: Open House in Sydney - an intimate afternoon for creators to connect & collaborate.

If you like this - don’t keep it to yourself. Share it with your crew.

They’ll surely subscribe and ‘bing-bong’ you’ll all be in the know. Together.

As always, if you’re not a fan - or think this can be better - let Ant know [email protected]

Cheers!
✌️
The Changer Team