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The pain / pleasure model is a very crude and black / white way of looking at the world.
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I don't look at the world this way, but I do look at human behavior this way. It may be crude, but it's accurate. It's also clear and simple enough to be of great use in Personal Development.
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you could also say, everything we do is to get less negative emotions and more positive emotions, you know? It's a bit obvious and not totally insightful
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You're way smarter than me
I did not find it obvious until I saw it in writing. IMO it is a mistake to dismiss or minimize the importance of this core truth about our human nature. For successful Personal Development, it's crucial to know what drives our behavior on the most basic level so we can use this information to our advantage.
In light of the pain/pleasure principle, I think successful PD boils down to 2 things.
1) Find techniques to overcome the desire to avoid pain/discomfort.
2) Find methods to increase the drive for pleasure in achieving goals.