Friday, November 19, 1999

Pleasure and pain

Want to make is a great day? Here’s a reliable strategy. Do the hard stuff first. Wait a little while for the fun stuff. Much of the value of pleasure is in the anticipation. The longer a pleasure is waited for and anticipated, the more pleasurable is the overall experience.

Interestingly, the same can be said of pain. The longer a difficult, painful experience is delayed, the more painful it becomes. Get it over with quickly, and the pain is significantly lessened.

So, to increase your pleasure and reduce your pain, do the unpleasant things first. Go ahead and get them out of the way. Sure, they’re a little painful but you’ll only make them more so by delaying them. The fun things can wait a while, and the more time you spend anticipating them, the more pleasurable they’ll be.

The “want-tos” will be even better when the “have-tos” are out of the way. So make it a great day. Do the difficult work that will get things accomplished, and enjoy the anticipation of the good things that will come when you’re finished.

— Ralph Marston

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Copyright ©1999 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All Rights Reserved. The Daily Motivator is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. Other than personal sharing, please do not re-distribute without permission.