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MICRO MISCONCEPTS

Misconcepts 012 - You Will Always Feel Pain - But You Get to Choose Which Kind

Published 2 months ago • 2 min read

MICRO MISCONCEPTS

A weekly upgrade for your misconcepts in under 5 minutes.

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26th September 2025

Issue# 012

You Will Always Feel Pain - But You Get to Choose Which Kind

Every morning, you wake up and choose your pain. The question is: are you choosing wisely?

Your brain has a 300,000-year-old operating system running on 2025 hardware. Back when survival meant conserving energy and avoiding threats, this system served us brilliantly. But today, it's quietly sabotaging your potential.

This very old operating system drives you to avoid short-term pain on default.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: you can't avoid pain—you can only choose which pain you experience.

When you think you’ve dodged pain, you’ve actually just chosen a different - often worse - kind of pain down the road.

Think about it:

  • The pain of consistent workouts or the pain of a weak and frail body
  • The pain of difficult conversations or the pain of losing relationships you cherish
  • The pain of being "average" when you know you had so much more potential or the pain of sticking out from the crowd at risk of judgement
  • The pain of uncertainty in pursuing your dreams or the pain of regret for never trying

Noticed a pattern? Your default misconcepts steer you away from short-term pain (driven by ego, social fears, and uncertainty) at the cost of what you really want: health, social connection, and fulfillment.

Most people choose the wrong pain because their defaults reign supreme. But here's your advantage: awareness creates choice.

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Choosing Your Pain

Stop viewing pain as something to avoid. Start seeing it as the price tag of what you want.

The formula is elegantly simple:

The pain exists either way. The only difference? One type of pain builds the life you want, the other erodes it. The choice is yours.
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Jim Rohn gives us a hint on how to make that choice:

"Discipline weighs ounces; regret weighs tons."

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Choose a challenging life today to earn an easier tomorrow. Choose comfort today, and tomorrow becomes exponentially harder.

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Making the Change

You know exactly what pain you are avoiding right now.

What would your life look like in five years if you kept avoiding this pain?

What would it look like if you embraced it as an investment instead?

Stop running from your potential. Choose your pain.

Thanks for reading!

Learn more at misconcepts.org​

Misconcepts is itself a misconcept. We are constantly iterating on our system to deliver the best value we possibly can. We'd love to hear your thoughts on how we can improve. Let us know by replying to this email.

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