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Watch out for “The Listerine Effect”

September 14, 20231 min read

You know the mouthwash Listerine?

It’s associated with terrible taste.

The funny thing is, it doesn’t have to taste bad.

Scope came out and it had a much better taste.

Yet Listerine kept its same terrible-tasting formula on purpose.

Why?

Because the company wanted to use the bad taste as a selling point.

You see, many people think, “If it tastes so bad, it MUST work.” So the mouthwash maker tapped into the bias of, “No pain, no gain.”

You’ll notice some people do this with their goals as well.

Take someone who wants to get in better shape.

They live off of chicken breasts and broccoli or do hardcore workouts thinking, “If it makes me feel miserable, it must work better.”

But that’s often a lie.

Now sure, success isn’t always going to be sunshine and rainbows. And if a person wants to believe more pain = more gain, maybe that will help them endure hardships.

Still, I prefer to focus on what actually gets results. And you often don’t need to suffer to get great results.

So notice if there's a story you've been telling yourself around, "No pain, no gain."

Then consider, "Is this always true? What if there's a way to make the gain without all that pain?"

Allow yourself to explore the possibility that, just maybe, you can often enjoy your journey to even greater success.

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Derek Doepker

Derek Doepker

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