Pain is not Unit of Effort

From Weekly I/O#80


Pain is not the unit for effort. If it hurts, maybe we are doing it wrong.

Article: Pain is not the unit of Effort

There seems to be a pervasive belief in society that pain is the measure of effort, as in common quotes like "No pain, no gain" and "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". However, the concept of pain as a unit of effort can lead to detrimental practices that don't actually contribute to achieving our goals. Sometimes, we might be sacrificing happiness by pursuing efforts that are actually not relevant to our objectives.

The writer suggests two counterbalancing beliefs: "If it hurts, you're probably doing it wrong" and "You're not trying your best if you're not happy", which remind me of When things aren’t working, be smarter, not louder, and It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple.


Want to learn 5 bite-sized cool things like this every week to understand the world better? Sign up below for my free weekly newsletter and learn together!

Weeklyio Banner

You might also like