Discipline Weighs Ounces and Regret Weighs Tons

We suffer one of two things. Either the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. You’ve got to choose discipline, versus regret, because discipline weighs ounces and regret weighs tons. - Jim Rohn, Conversations with Millionaires: What Millionaires Do to Get Rich, That You Never Learned About in School!

Isn’t that a amazing quote?  I spent a little time alone with it this morning, really letting it sink in and the deeper it sank, the more amazing it was. Discipline: The conquerer of great things vs. Regret: The coward who was conquered by all things.

Okay, maybe that was a little dramatic - I was caught up in the moment.

The father of the quote, Jim Rohn, went on to say, The reason is because the regret is an accumulated affect a year from now.  When you didn’ do the easy discipline.  He then gives a perfect example of what he’s talking about - one of my own personal phobias, dentists!  We’ve just about all been there.  The dentist tells us we need a procedure done that’ll cost around $300, but we really aren’t having much pain, so we say, “Thanks, but I think I’ll just see how it goes.”  How it goes is this:  We’re back in his office a couple of weeks, possibly months, later in a great deal of pain facing a fresh form of hell that’ll cost closer to $3,000.

I’ve also had a lesson in this philosophy courtesy of my Dodge Caravan.  It’s a very pretty van and I love it madly, but it taught me a hard, costly lesson a few years ago.  First of all, I play the radio and cds loudly, so if the vehicle’s who’s its and what’s its are in distress, I’m not very apt to hear their s-o-s calls, unless it’s between songs or I’m on the cell phone.  But I did, I have to admit, hear her tipping and tapping - kind of lie tiny morocas under the front end of the vehicle.

My response?  I believe I turned up the music.  I figured it was too little a noise to worry about - if there was trouble, it’d be a bigger, more hideous sound.  Surely if there was trouble, she wouldn’t go…..right?  The hideous noise came,  my buddy stopped moving, and I stopped grooving.

Costly?  Yes, Lord.

Another area where Discipline’s ounces and Regret’s tons comes into play is, ironically enough, the area of fitness.  We wonder, “How did these (5, 10, or 20) pounds sneak up on me?!”  Ounce by ounce, of course.

When we don’t discipline ourselves at every single meal and with every single “hankering,” we pave a fat-laden road to regret.  If we don’t have the discipline to exercise every single day, the pounds will make themselves at home and invite friends over.  Man! I hate it when they invite friends over!!

Before you know it, we’ve put ourselves in the position of being self-concious and unhappy with ourselves, at best, and in danger of a host of health problems, at worst.  Suddenly, heart problems, Diabetes, and a plethora of cancers all know our address - information we had hoped to keep from them.

Costly?  Yes, Lord.

“We suffer one of two things. Either the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. You’ve got to choose discipline, versus regret, because discipline weighs ounces and regret weighs tons.”

Incidentally (By the Way’s on vacation…), the book this quote appeared in - Conversations with Millionaires - is an excellent book.  It’s, literally, a conversation with nine self-made millionaires.  When self-made millionaires talk, I not only listen, I take notes!

The nine individuals interviewed are:

• Jim Rohn - Very successful success mentor
• Mark Victor Hansen - Co-Auhor of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series
• Wally “Famous” Amos - Chocolate Chip Cookie King!
• Jack Canfield - Self-Esteem expert and Co-Auhor of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series
• Robert Allen - Best Selling Author
• Sharon Lechter - Co-Author of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad book series
• Michael Gerber - Small Business expert and author of E-myth
• Jim McCann - CEO of 1-800-Flowers.com
• Jay Conrad Levinson - Author of the Guerilla Marketing book series

If you use the link at the top of the post, you can find a wicked deal on Amazon.com - as you know, they offer used books as well as new copies. Buying two or three used books for the price of one new one is always as cool as Coke on ice.