They say “no pain no gain” and it works well as a motivational expression. But I want to rephrase it to “no discomfort, no pain” instead. It’s less sexy - but here’s why pain may not the ideal environment for growth.
What is pain?
Pain is by nature, extreme. You might get a huge rewardafter doing something painful on purpose but it is is also high risk. You could get injured: physical or psychological. When in pain, our body’s alarm system turns on and all sorts of fight or flight and other things start happening to our nervous system to try and protect us. That’s why the pain pathway is closely linked to the fear pathway in our brain.
How pain backfires
A painful growth pathway might backfire. A person who is pushes themselves beyond their limit is brave, but often feels frustrated instead of proud. Or overwhelmed, not empowered. Or worse, they gain an injury to their body or their psyche. Injuries mean recovery and recovery takes time. This means you have to press pause on your goals and maybe even need to start over. This cycle will murder your motivation.
What to do instead?
Instead, for maximum and sustainable growth, chase discomfort. Discomfort is the perfect environment for growth! There’s enough of a challenge so you feel pretty good about yourself afterward without putting yourself in high risk of danger or need for distruptive recovery.
Conclusion
The next time you want to start a new goal or exercise regime - aim to push yourself to the point of discomfort, but stop before you feel pain. Be patient. Don’t be tempted to push yourself too hard in an effort to “hurry”. Lean into slow growth. Don’t treat your wellbeing like a show or use it to impress others or get “likes”. Be steady and be steadfast and remember: growth is 50% habit and 50% skill. Going slow means you actually have enough time to build the habit before killing it.
Now get out there and be uncomfortable.