Hayden Finch

And that decision point is really important because if I make the decision to, you know what, I'll come back to this later.

I'll just go do the closet right now.

That I just don't want a feeling goes away.

And you feel this relief because that feeling disappears.

And then even if that second behavior that I chose, in this case, cleaning the closet, even if that's not particularly exciting or fun, even if it's just like a little bit better than doing the taxes, that might be enough for our brains to prefer that.

Because it doesn't have to be fun or have to be really that much better.

It just has to be like a tiny bit less bad than what we were starting with.

Because that relief that you feel in choosing that other option is kind of what keeps this cycle going.

Yeah, that's a great tip.

And it doesn't have to be 20 minutes, right?

If you feel like all you can stand of this task because it's particularly aversive is one minute or five minutes, then that's the place to start.

But the reason that is helpful is because having a guaranteed time that the pain is going to end helps us persist through pain.

Just like if you were to take a cold shower and you know, I only have to be in here for three minutes.

You can persist for that three minutes versus just having no idea when it's going to end.

And it's kind of playing on that same thing.

Having an end to the pain helps us persist through it.

Yeah, it's one of those irrational things about human psychology.

You would think that reminding yourself of how good this is gonna feel at the back end would help us overcome that initial aversiveness.

And in some cases it can, and I do think that's a useful strategy to deliberately take the time to remind ourselves that it's gonna feel good, right?

When you finish this workout, you're gonna feel so good.