As humans every decision we make is driven by just 2 forces…
- The desire to move away from pain and
- The desire to move towards pleasure
If the pleasure we expect to receive outweighs the pain we’re feeling (or the pain we perceive ourselves to be feeling), we’ll decide to move forward with that action or change. If not, we’ll stay where we are and continue to put it off – even if we *say* it’s important to us or that we really want it.
We might have even convinced ourselves that we truly want to change, but if the expected pleasure doesn’t outweigh the perceived pain we’re feeling then nothing happens. Procrastination wins out and we stay put.
Take weight loss as an example…
Maybe you’ve been telling yourself that it’s time to lose some weight, but you’ve had a hard time actually following through and making progress.
You feel inspired by something you saw on Instagram and decide it’s time to make a change, so you clean up your diet for a few days but then the weekend hits and it’s a no holds barred match against everything in your kitchen.
The pleasure you were inspired by no longer outweighs the pain of resisting food temptations.
And stronger yet, the short term pleasure you feel from indulging in your favourite foods outweighs the pain of resisting.
Until the (perceived) pain of staying where you are outweighs the short term pleasure of indulging in those food temptations, you’ll keep spinning your wheels.
This is the same for every aspect of our lives – relationships, health, finances, career, family.
The good news though, is that we can *hack* this system.
All we have to do is create such a strong emotional connection to the pain of staying where we are and then create an even stronger emotional connection to the pleasure we’re going to feel from making that change.
This is why one of the first activities I have my Blue Phoenix Fitness online coaching clients do is the “Destination Postcard”. During this activity they’re creating a strong emotional connection to the pleasure they’re going to feel from changing.
So today I want you to do something…
1. Write down 4 actions you need to take that you’ve been putting off. Maybe you need to lose some weight or get your finances in order or start working out regularly again or something else entirely.
2. Then write down the answer to this question – Why haven’t I taken action? What pain have I linked to taking this action in the past?
3. Write down all the pleasure you’ve gotten in the past by indulging in this negative pattern. Be specific.
4. Write down what it will cost you if you don’t change right now. Again be specific. We need to create a strong emotional connection to the pain of staying where we are.
5. Write down all of the pleasure you’ll feel or receive when you take action right now. Be specific and if it helps you can refer to the Destination Postcard activity.
The more clear you can get on those 5 steps, the more likely you will be to finally create the change in your life that you’ve been trying to make for years.
Stay strong and live awesome, my friend.
-Cam
When you’re ready, there are a couple ways we can help you…
1. Looking for home workouts? Download these 21 Bodyweight F.I.R.E. Workouts – 100% free.
2. Are you tired of struggling with your weight loss or frustrated with confusing and misleading information? Then it’s time to look into the Sustainable Weight Loss Coaching Experience, our 1-1 online coaching program – read more here.