No Pain no Gain

Notes

Claim

Sometimes we see effort as a virtue, that achievements in life or having good things necessarily involves effort, so we assume that if we are not working hard, we won't achieve anything. If something is simple, or god forbid fun, then it won't lead us anywhere, aka - "a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor".

Explanation

Why it matters

If I could have the same level of outputs with less inputs, less struggle and energy, why shouldn't I? Taking "shortcuts" or doing things "smarter" is not a vice, it is exactly the thing that will help us achieve what we wanted, and bypass competitors. Flipping assumptions reveals hidden possibilities and better solutions

Examples

Supporters

Opposers

The problem is that it often leads us to Goodhart's Law, where we focus on the effort as the metric for success, instead of our progress/outcome. We suffer for the sake of suffering, regardless of the output. We think that by suffering more, we will achieve more success, as if it is a direct link.

Open questions

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