Can You Gain Without Pain?
Good question. I’m glad you asked.
If you want to achieve anything worth achieving can you get there without pain?
Can you:
- Lose weight
- Pass an exam
- Get your black belt
- Win a contest
- Make a marriage work
- Bring up happy children
or get anything worth getting or do anything worth doing?
The short answer is no.
I don’t believe in suffering for the sake of it. If there really was some sort of quick fix way of getting anything worthwhile I would consider it. So far though, I have never found out ?a way of getting anything worthwhile without:
- Studying hard
- Investing time and effort
- Risking hurt feelings
- Sweating
- Doing it over and over
- Practising until you can’t get it wrong
But when you get it you know you worked for it and earned it.
Once more, you are authentic and will have realised that it was the journey and not the destination.
Paul Browning
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10 Comments
Blood, sweat and tears – these are the recipe for success.
I got my black belt when i was 17, after 6+ years of training myself. I never thought I would make it, even my father was a bit of an idiot to me and said once i wouldn’t pay for your black belt grading because I went and saw an Uncle he didn’t like. DESPITE that I found a way … and also saw the errors of his way … the fact that I could still kick his backside 😉
Don’t give up in what you believe in, take each step as it comes. I spent 6 years doing a 4 year degree in which halfway through I decided that the subject I was studying I didn’t like, but I turned a negative into a positive and got my Biscuit (BSc) out of it. Rather than focus on the negative (the pain of study/stress/the mountain ahead) – focus on the positive (the joy of learning, the relief of passing/conquering Everest).
They say Skepticism is the language of the mind, follow your heart and nothing can stop you from achieving what you want out of life.
Keep up the good work, and whatever you decide to do in life, if you have belief and coursage in your convictions, I am 100% behind you 🙂
Cheers,
Chris P
Chris it is always an encouragement to read your posts. Paul I can’t begin to describe the amount of pain I have endured to be where I am today. I do know that I wouldn’t be half of what I am without it.
You said it Darrin.
‘That which give light must endure burning’
Victor Frankl
I agree – you need to make sacrifices to get what you want in and out of life. I personally have two examples:
Example 1
At 17 years of age (1978), I was skinny and weighed 8 stone! I decided to do something about this and started bodybuilding. I did everything I needed to do to become more muscular and healthy (no drugs – these are for cheats and idiots). I set myself short-term, mid-term and long term goals.
At first I tried everything I read in magazines and books (lies and cons). I didn’t get anywhere – just burnt out (you try Arnie’s routine!). Then, after 6 years of getting nowhere, I started reading up on psychology, kinesiology, physiology, etc. I came up with my own system of training and nutiritional approach. Lo and behold! I started growing.
I was doing less but getting more. I went from training 8-10 hours a week to about 3 hours and boy I grew and grew. The key was INTENSITY. Backed up with rest and recuperation.
I gained 14″ on my chest, 10″ on thighs, over 5″ on arms. My waist stayed at 28″! This was pure muscle mass. Looking back – I looked good.
Of course, I gave up when I injured my back (doing 700lb/318kg squats) and since then I have been a lazy old sod. I weigh less and I have become a fat unhealthy slob.
It’s all in the mind – I decided to give up. Have been making excuses for the last 22 years, but now I am going back to being healthy and lean. It all starts after Ramadhan (we Muslims fast from dusk to sunset for 30 days), which ends next week.
Example 2
I messed up my A levels 30 years ago and instead of going to Uni, ended up in unskilled manual jobs. In 1994, working in a warehouse, on being told that I was being overlooked for promotion because I was too good in my job and they couldn’t afford to take me off the warehouse floor, I decided to pack the job in and go to university.
We had 2 little girls (one only 3 months old) and my wife begged me to reconsider. I made up my mind to make our future better. Anyway, 4 years later, I got my degree. Financially, we struggled for all of those years and things weren’t much better afterwards – I came across ageism in the IT industry. Nobody wanted a 39 year-old. There were ‘kids’ walking into ?25K – ?30k jobs (I know some who walked into ?75K jobs!) and I ended up working as a computer programmer earning ?9K/year for 45-hour week!!!
In the meantime, I got a part-time job teaching one evening per week. Then I did a teaching qualification and got a job teaching in the local jail. I have been there since then (nearly 9 years), working up to Deputy Manager. But, due to restructuring, I have been ‘demoted’ to my previous position. During my time there, I have sacrificed both time and money to gain some more teaching qualifications.
However, two years ago I came across Paul’s Howtonetwork site (I don’t know how or why) and decided to get my CCNA. After a lot of hard (not smart!) work, I got my CCNA in July. Now, I am working towards the Wireless exams then will go for the CCNP. I am studying hard and smart. I am sacrificing a lot of time and effort to get these.
I am looking forward to Paul’s ‘Get into IT Contracting’ so that I can start on that road. My goal is to leave my present job before I am 50 (next year) and work for myself.
My goals for the next 12 months:
1. Get back to fitness and get rid of the flab
2. CWNA & CCNA Wireless
3. CCNP
Achieving these goals will take a lot of effort and time. And blood, sweat and tears.
I remember reading somewhere;
********************* Do or do not, there is no try. *************************
Hope this helps?
Faruk
1% Inspiration 99% perspiration
!% is a no brainer join H2N 99% is the work you put in to get something back
I think that if you are really trying to accomplish something and there is no “pain” involved, you probably aren’t trying hard enough. Taking something seriously means that you have invested a lot into it, and disappointment is not an option, so therefore you are willing to push yourself more and more to achieve your goal.
When I think of “no pain, no gain”, I think of effort. I believe that if you are doing something and it seems effortless to you, you aren’t doing everything you could. It should seem effortless to others, but not to you.
I’m glad you mention authenticity in your post. Being true to the goal is being true to yourself.
It is true, There is no such thing as something for nothing, even Andrew Carnegie would agree. But there is a thing called working smart in which the output would always be greater than the output.
In life there is always something to be given in order for something to be received. If we could just observe how nature does it, maybe we can all stop dreaming of waiting for the luck to come into our lives.