Run uphill

“If you’re evenly split on a difficult decision, take the path more painful in the short term.”

Here is a quick “Would You Rather” for you:

Would you rather

1. Spend 30 min a day, everyday, walking outside

2. Die 5 years sooner than expected

The answer seems obvious. Walking 30 min a day seems like an easy trade off to live 5 years longer.

But here’s the thing, most people don’t think about what the 30 min walks will do for them long term.

They are too focused on how easy it is to not go for a walk in the short term.

The decision in the present is a matter of pain vs pleasure. You choose what you choose based on determining whether it brings you pleasure or induces pain.

AS HUMANS, WE NATURALLY SEEK PLEASURE.

What you don’t consider is the idea that delaying that feeling of short term inconvenience is compounding the pain you will feel in the future.

Let’s say you are running a race. On the race route, there is one giant hill that you have to run up.

Would you rather have this hill be right at the beginning of the race, or right before the finish line?

The answer should be obvious. It makes the most sense to get the hill out of the way early when you have the most energy. Then everything is downhill from there, quite literally.

If the hill is at the end of the race, it is a lot more painful to conquer. You are running on fumes and the other discomfort you are feeling has been piling up the entire race.

YOU HAVE TO FEEL DISCOMFORT AT SOME POINT.

You know the hill is there, it is up to you to determine whether you take care of it now when it is easy, or continue to push it off.

There is a saying that I love:

EAT THE FROG’S HEAD!

Now what the hell does that mean?

If you are eating a frog, it is definitely something you don’t want to do. The head is intimidating and most people would push it off until the end. But this saying is recommending to deal with the most undesirable part first so everything after is easy. So, eat the frog’s head!

Get it over with.

Everything you feel is a matter of comparison.

I remember a conversation I had with somebody who had just recently been released from prison. He spent 5 years in prison for some drug-related crime and decided to stop at my place of work.

I have never seen somebody so happy to be shopping in a retail store. He was astounded by all the people who wanted to greet him and talk to him. The attention he was feeling was something he had not felt in years, so he was happy.

For me, it was just another boring day at work. The temp outside was in the 20s and there were feet of snow on the ground. I was unhappy because I was used to the situation.

Meeting this man and seeing his elation changed my perspective.

EMOTIONS ARE DETERMINED BY EXPECTATION AND COMPARISON.

I had no right to be unhappy. The life that I was used to living was boring to me. But this man would do whatever he could to live the life I was living.

What is painful now feels painful because you are used to being comfortable.

But choose to feel that pain now so it doesn’t compound and become harder to defeat in the future.

At some point you will have to face your problems, so if you know you have to, why not take care of them now?

THE MORE YOU TACKLE YOUR PROBLEMS IN THE PRESENT, THE EASIER THE FUTURE WILL BE.

Your brain consistently overvalues short term happiness and overexaggerates short term pain.

It will try to tell you 10/10 times that short term happiness is worth delaying pain.

YOU have to be the one to tell it otherwise.

You are wired to seek pleasure, it’s in your DNA. So flipping the script comes from mental conditioning.

Choose to run uphill so you can coast downhill.

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Thank you for reading!

My goal is to inspire self-improvement in others through my personal stories and experiences.

This is The Exploration.