第 57 题

1Humans have evolved (进化) to spend long periods doing physical exercise. But why doesn't everyone enjoy exercising? The complexity of the human brain is to blame.

2Evolving an ability doesn't automatically mean we'll want to use it. While physical exercise isn't that bad, it's still typically unpleasant. It has to be: you're pushing your body to its physical limits.

3Another issue is that the human brain is highly sensitive to wasted effort. Studies have shown that it calculates the effort required for actions and tends to stop us from squandering vital resources on activities that don't bring immediate rewards.

4The thing is, regular exercise to get "in shape" requires constant and considerable effort — all for gradual progress and uncertain rewards. So, your brain's tendency to ask, "Is it worth it?" will be working against you.

5Thankfully, the human brain is a complex organ. It isn't ruled by its more primitive drives. While many species' thought processes are limited to "Food, eat it!", "Danger, run!", "Pain, avoid!", we've evolved beyond that. Our brains can form multiple long-term goals and ambitions.

6So how does the brain process motivation? The self-discrepancy (自我差异) theory suggests we have several "selves" active in our minds at any given time: our "actual" self, our "ideal" self, and our "ought" self. Your "actual" self is who you are right now. Your "ideal" self is who you want to become. And your "ought" self is the self that does what you ought to be doing to become your "ideal" self.

7As far as your brain is concerned, there are processes that discourage exercise, and processes that encourage it. Ideally, you'll end up putting more weight on the latter than the former.