Finally you’ve found it! The one thing you’ve been missing your entire life, the one thing that will take you from where you are now to where you want to be, a golden ticket to eternal happiness.
Or so your brain would have you believe.
But, of course, it’s behind a paywall (which I suppose is one reason why people think more money brings more happiness)
Two or three clicks later you are the proud owner of eternal happiness, a great investment for the mere price of £299.99.
But of course after the transient post-purchase dopamine release wears off you're pretty much stuck in the same spot you were before the purchase. But don't worry because I'm sure this next product or service you commit to will be the real deal! (It's quite astonishing how poor our brains are at recognising this pattern).
Every time we seem to trick ourselves that this next thing will be the difference maker, the thing that we've been overlooking, the magic pill.
I'm struggling to find examples in my own life where there's been a magic pill that fulfils it's promises of eternal happiness and highly doubt I ever will. Some investments are better than others, that's for sure. Let's use my job as an example:
It's typical, as a personal trainer, for people to think you are holding the answers to their health & fitness problems and by signing up with you, they are guaranteed results. The moment the ink leaves the consent forms their life has changed forever and they have become a fitness god/goddess.
Obviously this is simply not true.
I have the answers to a lot of their problems and by providing high levels of knowledge alongside accountability it very much could be the case that they will achieve what they had set out to do.
But without implementation - impossible.
Continuing with the metaphor of the magic pill, most people hold the majority of the ingredients inside the capsule but lack the desire and will to compile them. Individuals know, in order to lose weight, they need to eat less calories and move more throughout the day but they lack the strategies to do so.
Next time you make a purchase or embark on a new behaviour ask yourself 'Has my brain tricked me into believing this is a magic pill?'
More often than not I've found that my search for a magic pill is an attempt to avoid the difficult path to success, looking for the easy way out. If something is worth having it's accessibility is not easy, that's what gives it it's value.
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