The Pain of Discipline is less than the pain of regret

From chatting with friends of mine it seems that the above has been muttered by many CEO’s in the finance sector in the last few months as they look to restrict corporate travel, perks, pay rises and general corporate excess in light of the “credit crunch”. When mine said it in a company wide email I thought about it a little and what it meant.

It is such a simple phrase, and whoever thought of it (obviously not these numerous plagiarising CEO’s), can only be a genius. I think the best things in life are kept simple.

I thought about all the goals I have made in the last year. Some I have met, some I have not. I REGRET not making the goals I have set for myself. The goals weren’t unachievable because as everyone knows that’s not “SMART”. The real reason I have not met those goals can only be seen as merely DISCIPLINE. For instance I set myself the task of regularly doing my accounts and keeping my records up to date. I say to myself that I must take a day off the day job and do my accounts. Every time I do, I spend the day getting up to date and trying to unravel months of neglect. I constantly say to myself that I will update my accounts sheets weekly, and for a few weeks I do, and then it slips again. I hate doing my accounts (as most people do), but it must be done. If you hate doing something then why leave it so you spend longer in the long run doing it! I kick myself constantly over my accounts!

Discipline is a key ingredient if you want to be the best at what you are, be it a stock trader, wedding planner, triathlete or an online entrepreneur. In order to get one thing you have no choice but to sacrifice another thing. So every time you see you are losing focus, letting things slip, just remember:

The Pain of Discipline is less than the pain of regret

Once I get my accounts up to date - I’ll keep you all posted on keeping them up to date!