Getting Past the 'Magic Bullet' Mentality

colinhoward (61)in #psychology • 6 years ago

We all want a solution to our problems, to be instant and easy, but that's not how life works

I admit. I'm guilty of clinging to the false belief that a simple, quick, and easy solution will solve what ails me.

I know, it's dumb and childish, but for some reason, I can't seem to fully shift past my desire to have immediate results with whatever I'm pursuing.

I understand the concept that hard work, persistence, practice, and determination in the face of obstacles is the obvious, straightforward path to success in practically any activity.

If you are undeterred by failure, if you are disciplined in creating a consistent practice, and strive to push yourself beyond your accepted norms, the chances of accomplishing your goals increase exponentially.

Yet, it's still addictively alluring to fall prey to magic bullet thinking

Work is hard. Fantasizing is easy.

The belief that one pill, one simple diet addition, one trick to fix our ailments is hard to pass up. You can see it in those cheesy, yet ubiquitous ads all over the internet, targeting our desire to achieve instant nirvana without any real effort.

The age of the internet has only increased the pervasiveness of magical thinking. Amazon and other online services have allowed us to purchase anything with a few clicks of the mouse, removing the pesky need to actually go to a store and purchase whatever we're seeking.

Instant gratification may be true for consumer products, but it still doesn't apply to sustainable health solutions of both the physical, mental, and spiritual variety. No matter how much money we may have, we cannot purchase immediate happiness or satisfaction.

Obvious statement, I know, but it bears repeating because it's a fact often lost in the haze of our own desire for prompt delivery of personal joy.

"It's the journey, not the destination"

Life is not a game of reaching a specified pinnacle and simply coasting our way the rest of our days. Well, some people might attempt such a feat if they bought certain crypto's early enough, but that's beside point.

Of course, we'd all like to inherit an endless supply of cash, relieving us of the grind-it-out economy that can easily suck away our lifeforce if we aren't careful. But that's not a likely scenario for the vast majority of people on this planet.

Instead, sustainable satisfaction in life is achieved through constant, daily maintenance which leads to continued improvement and, ideally, increased levels of happiness.

This isn't the thing you want to hear when you're busy dreaming about magical outcomes, as it contradicts your vision of receiving a free pass around hard work and determination and simply allowing you to go straight to gorging your face with gold-flaked pieces of cake.

Work, no matter the size, increases our chances of appreciating our life

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime. But give a man an endless supply of fish without any work and he'll inevitably become so fat and careless, he'll stumble off the dock and drown in a lake of his own laziness.

Viewing daily work towards a goal as a chore will lead to us avoiding the task. But when we view the work itself as worthy and valuable, we're much more likely to follow-through and appreciate the growing pains prior to mastering the activity.

All uncredited pictures from pixabay.com or my personal account