Living Life to the Fullest

Do what you hate the most

How do we get by in life? If you ask someone what they really want to do today, the answer is almost never "Eat raw broccoli."

Most people would skip the dentist, vitamins, exercise, taxes, difficult customer calls, hard drive reformats, and housecleaning if they could.

We do these things anyway because they're necessary. Whether they're mundane, annoying, terrifying, or painful, they keep us healthy, out of legal trouble, earning money, or living more efficiently.

I complain about going to the gym. Afterward, I'm happy I went and worked hard. But next time? I'll complain again. There's something backwards about how this works.

The things we dislike most are often the things that are best for us. Science can explain some of this resistance, but not why we consistently prefer what isn't good for us. Evolution didn't select for people who crave spinach over sugar, which is strange when you think about it.

My guess is there's a self-destruct mechanism built into human nature. Infants scream their lungs out the moment they're born, announcing themselves to any nearby predator. It makes no sense. A newborn is helpless, can't see, and is basically a snack. No animal smarter than a chicken does this. Look where chickens ended up in the food chain.

It doesn't improve as we age. Offer a six-month-old orange squash or butterscotch pudding, and you'll wear whichever one goes wrong. Give a teenager a McFat sandwich or a veggie sub, and most pick the first. Most adults choose watching TV over playing tennis. We naturally gravitate toward what's bad for us.

Since we consistently choose poorly, here's an idea: make a list of things you hate doing and do them every morning. You might not be happier. You'll probably just live longer. Or it might just feel like it.

We typically delay these tasks until they become urgent, which often makes life harder.

Getting back into shape after a heart attack is harder than staying fit beforehand. Weight loss is easier before knee problems start. Taking a vacation before a health crisis hits beats taking one after. A healthy diet prevents colon cancer better than treatment cures it. Quitting smoking is difficult, but nowhere near as difficult as lung disease.

If you think this won't happen to you, look at your arm. See that age spot? You didn't have one at 25 either.

Maturity means doing unpleasant tasks first. As a kid, you learned that cold Brussels sprouts tasted worse the longer you sat with them. When something needs doing, do it. Finish the creamed squash so you can enjoy the pudding. Once you've tackled the hard part, everything else tastes better, and you actually feel good about it.