No pain no gain is not just an axiom, it is a rule of money that anyone who desires financial success needs to know and follow. Another way to look at this rule is with this saying: know pain, know gain. Basically, if you pay the price today, you will get to play tomorrow. Short-term pain produces long-term gain. This truth will never change when it comes to money or financial success. And understanding this is a prerequisite to the financial freedom or financial independence you desire.
One may argue that not everyone went through pain to get what they have. But if you are like the rest of us that were not just handed wealth at birth, this statement remains valid.
A powerful quote and lesson from the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali that speaks volumes on the need to suffer today to gain tomorrow is as follows:
“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”
Indeed, pain and suffering are parts of life, but so are pleasure, joy and happiness. As with most things, life is a balance of the amount of pain you may have to go through for the commensurate gain.
Do not live to avoid pain and suffering. Instead accept the pain and suffering then use it to your advantage if you want to attain financial success. For context, the pain we are talking about here is not the negative kind of pain where one suffers due to a disease, injury, harm or torture. This is the positive kind of pain which involves suffering in the short-term to enjoy in the long-term. This process takes upfront dedication, lots and lots of practice, then sometimes years to yield results.
For the remainder of this session, let us refer to this positive pain as pain.
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Imagine a big financial goal you have always desired. In the beginning, the end result may feel impossible to you. But with the right amount of effort amongst other factors like networking, consistency etc, the impossible goal becomes possible. This holds true when it comes to financial success.
If you sit idle and avoid putting in work you will wallow in penury. It is impossible to achieve financial success without putting in sufficient effort at least temporarily. For instance, for a student to graduate with a respectable grade that will attract job opportunities, the student must put in a significant amount of effort during college years.
Undoubtedly, pain and gain go hand in hand in a positive way. Because you cannot win financially without subjecting yourself to a certain level of pain. It doesn’t need to be physical pain. It could be the pain of disciplining yourself and restricting yourself from bad financial habits like spending more than you earn.
To succeed financially, you must put yourself through a level of discipline that failures shy away from.
It could be in the form of a few months of extreme hard work, and sleepless nights. Or it could be in the form of dedicating yourself to learn a totally new subject or field of work.
The more you push yourself, the more pain you will feel, hence the gain will follow.
Another relatable example of positive pain that pays off in the long run is working out or muscle building. At first, you may feel soreness due to not exercising a muscle group but if you persist and never give up that’s when the magic starts to happen. Your muscles slowly start to grow or you begin to lose weight. Eventually you develop endurance and your muscle soreness leads to muscle gain with repetition as well as right training. Same goes for weight loss, the consistency in your workout coupled with eating right, leads to increased calorie burn that results in weight loss.
In life, if you fail to make sacrifices and are unwilling to go beyond your comfort zone you will not see any gains financially and otherwise.
Remember, with the no pain no gain rule it is better to enjoy the process than hope to only enjoy the end result.
Be sure to check out the 99 rules of money if you want to master your money and maximize your chances of building wealth as well as attain financial freedom at some point in life.
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