Key Highlights
- When most of us turn our minds to self-improvement, we assume that we need to put pleasure on pause until we’ve reached our goal.
- This is evident in the motivational mantras that get bandied about – “no pain, no gain”, “the harder the battle, the sweeter the victory”.
- If we fail, we tend to think it’s our own fault for lacking the willpower needed to put in the hours and stick at it, probably because we’ve given in to some kind of short-term temptation at the expense of long-term gain. Yet the latest research suggests that this may be the worst way to approach our personal goals.
- Put simply, we are far more likely to succeed if the process offers immediate gratification as well as rewards in the future, and we should actively look for new ways to enhance the inherent satisfaction in whatever it is we’re doing.
- Far from being the enemy of self-control, pleasure powers perseverance.
