Why is it worth doing what seems impossible

The fear of asking your boss for a raise or a raise can hold you back and forth for months. But when you still gather your courage and ask a question of interest, you will not even notice how quickly everything will pass. The desire to get something or achieve a goal can grow to truly impressive proportions and even make you a little obsessed. However, soon, having achieved what you want, you will lose your zeal and switch to something new.

We buy things and become happier. But only for a while. At first we are carried away by new things, and then we get used to them.

Thomas Gilovich Professor of Psychology

It is curious that our mind can inspire us that the mere thought of owning a thing will bring much more pleasure than the thing itself. Therefore, it often turns out that we just enjoy the idea itself, without putting it into practice. In his new book, writer Ryan Holiday explains that one of the biggest obstacles to success is the very notion of possible success.

Dreaming is very pleasant. It's nice to share your plans with the people around you. It's nice to set long-term goals and think over ways to achieve them. It's nice to just look at yourself in the mirror and realize that almost nothing is impossible. Most people have enough of these castles in the air. The very process of dreaming seems so pleasant that it starts to interfere with the implementation of ideas in life.

After we repeatedly and in the smallest detail play in our head the moment of the supposed triumph, we no longer want it to happen in reality. We simply lose the ability to act, because we ourselves have deceived ourselves and believed that we have already achieved something worthwhile.

When we begin to take real steps towards the goal, we will certainly face all sorts of obstacles. To make it not so painful, we compensate for the discomfort with various momentary pleasures. American writer Robert Greene believes that this kind of discomfort is very useful and you just need to learn to love it.

One can find a kind of perverse pleasure in wading through pain on the way to the goal.

Robert Greene

How to get rid of the routine

Entrepreneur and writer Jesse Itzler shares an interesting personal example in one of his books. Itzler felt that he was gradually getting bogged down in a routine and would have liked to shake things up a little. So he decided to invite his Marine friend to his house, and it brought very unexpected results.

The Marine asked Itzler, "How many times can you pull up?" The writer struggled to pull himself up eight times. “Relax for half a minute and do some more,” the Marine continued. After 30 seconds, Itzler climbed onto the horizontal bar again and, overcoming himself, pulled himself up six more times. The Marine was relentless: "Rest - 30 seconds, and again return to the crossbar." Cursing everything in the world, the writer pulled himself up three more times. “We're not going anywhere from here until you pull yourself up a hundred times,” the Marine said. “Then we'll be hanging around here for eternity. Because I will never do it,”Itzler retorted. However, in the end, the writer coped with the task, doing one pull-up at a time. Thus, the "fur seal" proved Itzler that he can do much more than he used to think.

It was a very valuable lesson for Itzler, which he called the "40% rule": often people give up ahead of time just because they feel drained physically and emotionally. In fact, this happens at a time when we actually spend only 40% of the available strength. When we overcome ourselves and strain by more than 40%, we go beyond our comfort zone.

Learn to go all the way and achieve goals

Obstacles on the way to the goal are a kind of challenge from the side of consciousness: will you be able to focus on the task and overcome boredom, or, like a child, succumb to the temptation and begin to be distracted by momentary pleasures?

Robert Greene writer

Like Itzler, who jumped over his head with a hundred pull-ups, you can also say goodbye to routine by setting very specific goals for yourself. The basic idea is to do something and don't stop until you're done. At the same time, it does not matter at all how long it will take.

Your goal is to achieve what seems impossible to you. You need to learn to get exactly that perverse pleasure from overcoming inner resistance that Green mentioned.

This is exactly the principle behind crossfit training: you set a clear goal for yourself and train until you reach it.

The motto of "fur seals" sounds like this: "If the task is simple, then it is simply not worth it."

This principle can be applied to everything. You can do household chores until you redo them all. You can write an article and not give up until it gets published somewhere. You can do a hundred pull-ups, run a marathon, or swim across a river. Does it matter how long it takes?

Greatest opportunity in history

These days, there are fewer and fewer people who are able to go headlong into work, while such a skill is becoming more and more valuable in the modern economy. It is quite logical that the greatest success in a career plan will be achieved by the one who is able to perfectly develop this skill in himself.

We live in an incredibly hectic world with a ton of distractions. It becomes almost impossible to focus on a task for more than 5 minutes without being distracted by anything else. However, the following law is at work here: any action gives rise to opposition. While most people are getting lazier and harder to climb, a small group of focused and alert workaholics are benefiting from the situation.

The time of the middle peasants is over.

Tyler Cowan economist

You either become the one who controls your life, or you merge with the gray mass. Do you back down when things go wrong? Or do you keep pushing forward? The choice is yours.

It is normal when at the very beginning of the journey you face difficulties. Something really worthwhile will require a lot of effort and sacrifice from you. In the past, people were willing to sacrifice momentary pleasures for a better future. Now, on the contrary, we are being taught to live in the present moment.

And most people do just that. They live one day. And if something does not work out for them or it becomes unbearable for them to overcome obstacles, they give up. Most people prefer the satisfaction of momentary desires to ephemeral dreams of a better future. In addition, there is another widespread excuse for your own powerlessness and mediocrity: love yourself for who you are. If so, then why strive for anything at all?

But stop talking about losers. Let's talk a little about successful people. Their main difference is that they never feel that way. They know all their flaws and weaknesses and are constantly working to correct and strengthen them. The familiar expression “The more I know, the less I know” very accurately illustrates the situation described. But this is the catch: they are especially acutely aware of their imperfection and therefore often suffer from self-doubt. Most of them fell victim to the myth that you need to love yourself before you can be successful.

This alone is not enough. Nothing will change if you just take it and one day convince yourself that you are, on the whole, a good person. Self-confidence and self-love must be earned and strengthened by real actions. Then you will receive a reward for all the difficulties you encountered on the way to the goal.

You are rewarded for the work you actually did, not empty promises.

Ryan Holiday writer

Remember one thing: if something is easy for you, then it is not worth your effort at all. Only by overcoming real difficulties will you gain faith in yourself.

Pleasure or Happiness?

True happiness is significantly different from momentary pleasures. No, you shouldn't think that momentary pleasures are something bad. However, they often hinder something more durable.

Happiness does not have a bitter aftertaste, because of it there is no depression, it does not bring bitterness and disappointment. Real happiness can be experienced in memory over and over again and get exactly the same amount of pleasure as the first time. Momentary pleasure is quite capable of causing irreparable harm, making you suffer and regret.

James Talmage scientist

Something that you put a lot of effort into embodying will bring much more satisfaction than ordinary minute fun. Don't be afraid of obstacles. Move ahead. And then in return you will receive as much happiness as never before to be seen by those who succumb to difficulties.