Funny thing, human thinking. Consider someone taking medication. He is diagnosed with a condition that requires him to take, say, an antibiotic for three weeks. Off to the pharmacy with prescription in hand, he returns home with a bottle of capsules.

Will he be compliant in taking his meds, twice a day for 21 days? I bet he will.

Now take that same person and put him on a healthy diet. What happens to the compliance? My guess is the odds of following the new nutritional regimen will be considerably lower than the compliance to taking the antibiotic.

Now, I understand the determination to take the prescribed dosage of meds. The condition is a health risk he wants to go away. The antibiotic is the solution.

But why is incorporating the habit of a healthy diet that can prevent future health issues so much more difficult for most people?

Late night infomercial guru Anthony Robbins might explain it this way:

“Most people will do more to avoid pain than to experience pleasure.”

Taking the antibiotics without missing a dose is avoiding pain — the pain of whatever condition you have and the risk of it worsening should you not take them.

Conversely, despite the almost certain benefit most would derive from an improved diet, the pleasure of a healthier, more vibrant life is outweighed by the pain of change.

Changing one’s diet can be quite drastic. It requires a new way of shopping and cooking, takes more time, comes with new taste sensations and perhaps a bit of an uncomfortable detoxification.

What would Anthony Robbins say you need to do to overcome this?

Pain and Pleasure

“The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t, life controls you.”

Learn to look at life’s situations through different coloured glasses. Learn not to associate pain with those things that serve you. Many of the things we want in life are hard to come by or achieve. If they were easy, everyone would have or achieve them.

It’s tough to do in our instant gratification world, but learning to enjoy the journey to achieving whatever it is you want is a key to managing pain and pleasure — and the secret to success in anti-aging and in life.