How To Do Hard Things?
Learning to measure consequences is a sign of intelligence — a mark of a more mature brain. A child cannot process the long-term consequences of their choices and actions. Neither can an addict or someone prone to impulsive behavior. Without understanding consequences, you cannot strategize. You cannot apply restraint without processing the why behind it.
Our brains naturally struggle to process long-term consequences — an evolutionary side effect, you might say. Ironically, overcoming this limitation is a sign of evolved intelligence, because once you can anticipate future outcomes, you can align today’s actions with your intended consequences. Our brains don’t do this automatically. They only understand two primary signals: pain and pleasure. Everything else is neurochemistry associated with these two forces.
Everyone knows it takes only 3 to 6 months to get back in shape with consistent gym attendance, yet most people delay until it’s too late. Why? Because the discipline required feels painful. Lifting weights, struggling through physical discomfort, failing at basic exercises — it’s all painful. Confronting your weaker self is painful. Eating a bag of chips while watching “Friends” at night is easier. Drinking with friends until you’re numb is easier because it offers short-term pleasure. There’s long-term pain ahead, but your brain can’t see that far. Restraint must be cultivated; it’s not natural.
Your body prioritizes survival, partly by steering you away from painful activities. But some pain transforms you for the better: working out, tackling hard challenges, studying literature, and many other demanding pursuits. Kahneman was right when he said we operate primarily from System 1, which relies on heuristics. We must actively engage System 2 — the rational mind — for deep thinking.
Without actively engaging in deep thinking, you won’t grasp long-term consequences. This is where techniques like visualization become essential. Bombard your brain with vivid imagery layered with desire. Once the desire and imagery are established, your brain treats the goal as pleasurable, temporarily forgetting the momentary pain required to achieve it. Soon, prioritizing actions with long-term benefits becomes easier.
For instance, think about someone you’re head over heels for, but you’re out of shape and they’re not. Constantly thinking about them evokes desire, which then motivates you to push through temporary pain for that ultimate pleasurable experience. Another effective technique is making your plan public, which invokes shame — a painful experience for your brain. Between two painful experiences, your brain will choose the lesser one. If shame is more painful than the gym, your brain will do everything to avoid that emotion.
If you want to program your brain to do hard things, you need to understand how it operates — then reprogram it by leveraging its own mechanisms. Visualization may seem like it “doesn’t work,” but since it activates the pleasure center in your brain, making hard choices becomes easier. You must engage in everything that associates temporary pain with pleasure, and your brain will stop procrastinating so much.