11: Choosing discipline over disappointment

You probably have an upcoming personal goal. You might even have an action plan defining your process to achieve that goal. Yet, without discipline, we know that our action plans won’t go any further than the paper they are written on.  We know that our success and failure will ultimately depend on the series of difficult choices that we make along the path.  But we also know that it’s easier said than done to consistently make these choices.

So we must ask ourselves: Is our desired output even worth all of the inputs that it requires?  Because if it is in fact worth it, we must have the discipline to do what we need to do instead of what we feel like doing. We’ve heard the stories of world class teams, athletes, performers, and leaders with this level of discipline, but what about the rest of us?  At this moment, what goal are you willing to remain this disciplined for?

University of Alabama Football Coach, Nick Saban, describes this choice as the “two pains in life*.” The pain of discipline and the pain of disappointment.  Coach Saban claims if you can handle the pain through your preparation and execution, you won’t have to worry about facing the regret of an adverse outcome. If the goal’s important enough to you, choosing discipline will be worth it every time. 

When I heard Coach Saban’s perspective on the two pains I thought back to November when my buddy, Chris, made this choice.  Chris hasn’t always been known as the beacon of discipline.  But for this goal, Chris chose discipline over disappointment when he painfully and triumphantly ran the final 10 miles of the New York City Marathon on a busted knee to fulfill a personal commitment.  He pushed himself through the challenge, across the finish line, and down ten city blocks to the after party that awaited him.  All of his training runs and preparation got him to that point in the race, and his determination carried him the rest of the way.  It wasn’t easy, but finishing what he started was important enough to him to remained disciplined even when it hurt. He was willing to face the pain in order to crush the goal on his bucket list, or maybe just to crush the bucket of beers waiting for him.  Either way, there he was with a bad knee and exhausted lungs, and he never felt so good.  

Now it’s my turn to make the choice. As I prepare to sit for the CFP(R) exam on Friday, I’m feeling the pain from a year’s worth of studying and an especially demanding final few months. Nearly every time Charlie went down for a nap, I’ve capitalized on the opportunity to take another practice quiz or review another unit.  Nearly every weekend since the new year, Jordan and I have put life on hold for me to study. This sacrifice and discipline has been the only way to consistently hit my ambitious study goals.  It’s felt like I’ve been running my own marathon, and I’m ready for it to be over, but the more pain I feel from discipline, the less I worry about disappointment. 

With just a few days left, and the hours that I’ve put in, I finally feel that I’m prepared to successfully cross that finish line.  The hard work has seemed to pay off.  Nevertheless, if by some chance I happened to fail, I can confidently say it would be a result of selecting the wrong choices on the exam rather than making the wrong choices in my preparation.  With the approach I’ve taken, I’m at peace with whatever result comes back at the end of April.

I fully intend to look back at this experience with more pride than pain in the same way that Chris remembers his marathon. Until then, I will keep grinding. It’s been a brutal winter, but all of this will just make for a more beautiful spring. Time to get back to the books.

*https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2788985-origins-podcast-series-to-return-with-3-chapters-including-nick-saban-episode