Discipline vs. Regret

One of the things I enjoy in the fall is coaching Warhawks Football in Waterloo. It’s a fantastic time with my oldest son out there on the field – not only watching him play football, but watching him as he motivates all the bobble-heads out there with his constant encouragement and high-fiving.

As I’ve blogged about before, there are numerous times throughout the practice when we send players to run around “the tree.” Sometimes it’s disciplinary, but most often, we desire to build stamina for these little guys to be able to give their best for four quarters of football. Tonight a player asked if the coaches could run to the tree because they practiced so hard.

What a great teaching moment.

Many of them regarded a trip to the tree as punishment, so I re-iterated that nobody is going to the tree as a punishment – we need them to play 60 minutes of football. The coaches could run to the tree – but we aren’t playing in the fourth quarter – they are. Many of the leaders who inspire me do so because obstacles that many would classify as “life punishing them”, they see as opportunities to develop stamina for their leadership to be able to go the distance in tough times.

“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is that discipline weighs ounces, regret weighs tons.” - Jim Rohn