Discipline vs Regret

I love inspirational quotes (good ones).  I had a favorite quote in 2014.  We’re already mid-way through 2015 and no new quotes have hit me in quite the same way, so I guess this quote still has preeminence.

Jim Rohn is credited as saying:

“In life there are 2 kinds of pain—the pain of DISCIPLINE, and the pain of REGRET. The pain of discipline weighs ounces, but the pain of regret weighs tons.”

That’s a profound quote for me.  Let it sink in.

We can lean into the smaller pain that comes from doing what we need to do, consistently, and early on, OR we can avoid that smaller pain and discomfort by procrastinating and by not “taking care of business”.  HOWEVER, we will only have a much larger amount of pain to deal with because of our avoidance.

Disciplining ourselves to exercise smart habits, to be responsible, and to engage with life as we need to can be tough and uncomfortable.  But feeling the inevitable regret from NOT doing these things can be a hundred times worse.

Example:  taking care of our physical health.

It’s “painful”, to one degree or another, to discipline ourselves to consistently eat well and exercise, especially if we’re “not into all that health stuff” (pain of DISCIPLINE).

However, it’s much more painful to wake up one day and find ourselves overweight with high blood pressure, diabetes, or heart disease (pain of REGRET)!

What about you?  What are those daily/weekly/regular disciplines that you need to begin executing, enduring the relatively small amount of pain that comes with it?

The pain is unavoidable, but you get to choose what kind it will be—ounces or tons.

Choose wisely.

P.S. check out the picture up top.  A big shout-out to my lovely and talented daughter—I had shared with her that I liked this quote, and for a Christmas gift she did some very cool artwork for me.  Awesome gift from an awesome daughter!

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