The pain of delay
A problem avoided today accrues interest like a payday loan. Avoidance is never free.
We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.
Jim Rohn
There are two pains in life. There is the pain of discipline and the pain of disappointment. If you can handle the pain of discipline, then you’ll never have to deal with the pain of disappointment.
Nick Saban
See if this rings true for you as well?
Most of the problems you are dealing with today result from something that could have been handled long ago but was put off.
A problem avoided today accrues interest like a payday loan. Avoidance is never free.
The hard conversation to repair a relationship or to set boundaries. Lifestyle changes to live within a budget. Dietary changes to promote greater health.
None of these get easier with time.
Often there are good short-term reasons to avoid solving a problem.
It may not be the right time to solve the problem. Fruit should only be picked when ripe, so too should problems only be solved when ready.
Sometimes, the problem today does not feel severe enough to warrant a fix. A pebble in the shoe is annoying, but so too is sitting down to remove the shoe and dump out the pebble.
Most commonly, we avoid the problem simply because the unknown repercussions of addressing the problem feel worse than the problem itself. What happens to that relationship when you actually say the things that need to be said?
So we tarry, we delay. And the problem grows - hidden away and compounding.
Here’s the thing. As potentially bad as those unknowns may be, they are ultimately unavoidable.
The thing about problems is that they must be addressed, eventually. Cancers can grow quietly in the dark for long periods, but ultimately will surface.
Why put off to tomorrow what can be addressed today? That is what Misters Rohn and Saban are getting at.
You aren't going to be successful in outrunning your problems indefinitely. The pain is definitely coming. Chose to face it now and you at least get to see what is on the other side.