Minute With Mallon: Two Types of Pain
Hi folks, and welcome to Minute with Mallon!
Hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Let's dive in…
Something I Taught:
The quote "There are two types of pain--the pain of discipline and the pain of regret" is often attributed to American author and motivational speaker Jim Rohn. I'm not sure if that's true, but I've known and used this idea for decades.
Recently I was working with a client who is in his late 30's, married, and with children.
He told me that he was considering going back to school to get his college degree. He had gone to college in his late teens and early 20's but had decided to drop out.
He is in sales and is considered a high performer in his company. During our session, he told me that he had always made it a priority each week to call or visit potential new clients. In the sales world, this is called Cold Calling and it seems to be feared by many. It's uncomfortable calling someone you don't know on the phone or walking into their place of business unannounced. You never know what they are involved in at the moment. So most people in sales avoid doing this.
Not my friend. He is a sales professional and is well respected.
Every Thursday he takes either the morning or the afternoon and does what it takes to ensure that new business is always flowing his way.
"You don't regret that you do that do you?" I asked him. He said no. "Is it always fun?" I asked. Again he answered "No" with a smile on is face.
"But you do it anyway. And you're getting the benefit of the short term pain of discipline, correct?"
He answered yes.
"There are two types of pain in this world, the short term pain of discipline and the long term pain of regret."
We then went on and talked about how this concept relates to his going back to college and getting his degree.
I saw the lightbulb go off in his mind!
"You can either keep thinking about doing it like you've been doing for years, and then down the road regret not going after it. Or you can go after the short term pain of discipline, take a few classes each semester and have a degree which you can use for the rest of your life to improve your and your family's lives. He agreed and made a decision on the spot to go after it! I admire this man.
If you do hard things, life will get easy. But if you continue to do easy things, life will get hard. Period!
Which do you choose?
Something I Learned:
Over and over again, I work with clients who complain about being interrupted by coworkers, email, social media notifications, and too many meetings, etc.
I read a great book lately called "The Perfect Week Formula," by my friend Craig Ballantyne. In the book he had a section called, "Build a Fence Around Yourself." Here are a few ideas I learned:
Without a doubt, one of the most common killers of entrepreneurial goals and dreams is distraction.
So set hard boundaries with your colleagues, employees, and clients and tell them that you will be unavailable during specific hours of the day. (Even 20 minutes of blocked time helps!)
Put your phone on airplane mode and designate certain specific times during which you will check your texts, your email, and other notifications.
Sit down with your family and explain the importance of having a distraction free workday and how you will be able to spend more quality time with them if they will respect your boundaries and allow you to stay focused.
Something to Ponder:
"You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf." Jon Kabat-Zinn
Something I Saw:
Angel Tree Charleston! Considered to be the largest Live Oak Tree east of the Mississippi, it is estimated to be between 300 -400 years old. Just beautiful and notice how the limbs go underground and then come back up!
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Until next week!
Robert