Do the Thing, Get the Thing
Colin Dentino
Experienced Sales and Marketing Professional | MBA | Entrepreneur | Passionate Endurance Athlete
This may be one of the most basic and most true piece of knowledge on this list of things I've been fortunate enough to learn. There's also a disclaimer at the end but it's a simple cause and effect gem that can be used in virtually any situation. It came from a conversation with my oldest son when he was only about 4 or 5 years old.
He wanted a snack and I had just read a parenting book about always saying yes to what you’re kids ask you for instead of no all the time. The book counseled that there should or could be a “thing” you want the kid to do before getting the “thing” they were asking for. So, he wanted a snack and I wanted him to get his PJs on and brush his teeth. I said yes to the snack and told him about what he had to do. It worked like a charm, no issues at all ... not.
He exploded into an inferno that any parent has seen hundreds of times but no non-parent has the capacity to begin to understand. (Sorry, but true.) It was through that interaction that I arrived at the most simple form of the plan. He just had to “do the thing to get the thing” which very quickly morphed into a mantra, “do the thing, get the thing”.
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It’s become a common phrase around our house now. You want tokens, sure - do the thing, get the thing. You want to go to soccer tonight, sure. Get dressed and ready before we need to leave - do the thing, get the thing. It’s simple, effective, and absolutely true even in your own life. You want to be more fit, work out and eat differently - do the thing(s), get the thing(s). You want to sell more, find a husband or wife, almost anything - you just need to do the thing to get the thing.
In Napoleone Hill’s book, Think and Grow Rich, he talks about this concept. He says, “You can have anything you want so long as you are willing to pay the price for it.” Do the thing, get the thing.
Here's a disclaimer, sometimes you can do all the things, but you still won't get the thing. Life gets a say. Life gets the final say, but I believe you can influence outcomes. The idea of Free Will is a much bigger conversation for another day, but for this - do the thing, get the thing *unless the universe says no.