Are You a Pain Avoider or Pleasure Seeker?

Are You a Pain Avoider or Pleasure Seeker?

There are two types of people in this world, pain avoiders and pleasure seekers. Pleasure seekers will commit themselves to a cause because they know the long term outcome will be beneficial for them and the people around them. They prefer long term gain to short term satisfaction or instant gratification. An example might be learning a new skill that takes time and effort to develop but could lead to earning more money in the long run; or living a long-term healthly lifestyle instead of using a crash diet that may get results in the short term but eventually lead to more weight gain and fluctuations later on.

Pain avoiders don’t tend to commit themelves 100% to challenges and tend to pick the easiest options because the more difficult option means pain or effort for them. An example might be choosing fast food instead of preparing a healthy meal or sitting watching TV instead of learning something new or doing exercise. A pain avoider also has the tendency to get really fired up for something, go all out for a short period of time, realise results arent coming as quickly as they would like and then give up and go back to their less painful routines.

Pain avoiders’ characteristics that make motivation difficult:

• They leave tasks and assignments to the last minute then bully themselves to do them

• They see the whole task all at once instead of in smaller chunks

• They picture themselves doing the task (pain) instead of picturing the task completed (pleasure)

• Procrastinate and dwell over performing the task in the present moment

Pleasure seekers will:

• Organise the task into smaller managable pieces

• See the task as already completed in their minds

• Associate positive consequences with the task being completed even though some pain/effort is required

• Focus on the most relevant part of the task in the present moment and do it

Behind every great achievement is a history of education, training, practice, discipline, and sacrifice. You have to be willing to pay the price for any positive long term goal. The idea of sweating profusely, not knowing what exercise to do or how to use a machine properly could potentially could equate to short term pain for some people and because of the negative images we have in our minds, it will no doubt put us off taking up any proper, structured exercise routine. The other painful aspect is that we will have to learn something new, and many people associate learning with pain. The pleasure seekers on the other hand will take time to learn new exercises, ask for help, research into their diet and commit themselves to taking long term action.

Changing focus…

Instead of thinking of the painful experience we might have, what if we focussed on the pleasure side of things? Yes, you might say “there is nothing pleasurable about sweating in a gym and aching in the morning” but what about in 6 months time when you have hit your target weight, you can do 20 full press ups with no help, and things that you used to find hard have become really easy because you have gotten physically and mentally stronger, as well as having all your friends and family complementing you and fitting into the clothes that you used to wear when your were 18. Simply reading the last sentence makes you feel better already! If you could focus on the pleasure of achieving your goal, understanding that there may be a bit of pain at first but in the long term the benefits totally outweigh the drawbacks. How would you feel not to achieve those results?

What is the cost of NOT taking action. What could be the consequences of not taking care of your body over a prolonged period of time? Illness? Obesity? Inability to move properly? Poor posture?Hunch back? Inability to play properly with kids? Feeling tired after picking your kids up? Feeling tired walking upstairs?These are the pains that you should and CAN avoid.

But you have to be willing to take control of your lifestyle instead of letting your lifestyle control you.

There is no right or wrong way, but more things are achieved by pleasure seekers than those who avoid or delay taking action.

Are you a pain avoider or pleasure seeker?