Miyamoto says “Do Not Seek Pleasure for Its Own Sake”.

In the late years of the 16th century, Miyamoto, who was on a mission to be the greatest swordsman,

wandered around and even stayed in the darkest and scariest places. It would have

been no surprise if one encountered him in the middle of a lonely forest on freezing nights,

accompanied only by his swords. Miyamoto knew that greatness had a price, and he needed to pay it,

no matter how expensive it was. From a very young age, he sacrificed typical desires and the path

of comfort in order to focus on what he wished to become and to stay true to the path he intended to

follow. He found the pursuit of a luxurious home, fine food, and fanciful possessions distracting.

Now, let’s imagine a version of Miyamoto that decides to indulge in those pleasures

that do not serve his overall goals… To wake up late every day or routinely eat

rich dishes that lack nutrition... Do you think he would have gone far in developing

his skills and becoming the greatest swordsman in the history of Feudal Japan? Probably not.

Today, in an ever-stimulating world, there’s an abundance of pleasures, which for many brings with

it a lack of meaning. And according to many greats of the history of humanity, having meaning is what

truly makes us happy. In the modern world instant pleasure has never been more easily accessible,

but the sad reality is that constantly indulging in pleasures does not lead to happiness,

it can lead to a sense of emptiness and even addiction in extreme cases.

Today, pleasure is so easily accessible, it’s almost scary. You just need to pop

your phone from your pocket to get the instant dopamine hit we all crave.

In the attention-driven economy of the modern world, pleasure is

one of the most valuable currencies - You’re almost never out of its sight.

Whatever you’re doing there’s always someone - a product or service - lurking in the background,

luring you towards false promises of happiness. The antidote of pleasure is meaning, believing

in something that truly dictates your days in a way that can only move you forward,

no matter the temptation, no matter the pleasures that are surrounding you. We

need to look at those who succeeded in finding meaning and fighting pleasures, like Miyamoto.

Miyamoto felt that indulging in pleasure steals time from us, because time well spent is when

you do something that matters, and that feeling has no equal. As far as Miyamoto was concerned,

even if you compound all of the pleasures of life, it still doesn’t measure up to the feeling

of achieving a major goal. Doing what matters will always be the true source of happiness.

Just imagine how proud you would feel if you succeeded in, for example, reading every single

day for at least 15 minutes, for an entire year; Picture yourself with a healthy body

after training hard for months and months; Just think about the day when all of your efforts to

start your business finally pay off and you start seeing customers coming in numbers;

How does the fleeting happiness generated from a short-term pleasure really fair next to the

happiness that results from achievement? Picture that next time you feel the temptation to grab

your phone instead of doing the less immediately pleasurable thing you actually want to get done.