The Parable of The Dog and the Nail

It has been long since I heard this story. But recently, I re-read the book Unscripted by MJ Demarco and was reminded of the Parable again. And that’s why I wanted to share this with you.

There was a man who used to go to a certain gas station every time to fill up his tank.

Every time he’d go there. He’d hear the sound of a dog moaning in pain.

So, One day he asked an employee, “Hey! Why is the dog lying there and moaning in pain?”

“Well, he’s lying on a nail. That’s why.” answered the employee

The man was confused and asked, “Then why doesn’t he sleep somewhere else?”

The employee said, “It must not be hurting him enough.”

And that answered my question as to why don’t people do what needs to be done. Why don’t people take action? They want to change their lives. So, why don’t they do anything about it?

The answer was “It’s not hurting enough.”

Some of us have career nails. Jobs we don’t enjoy. Work that drags us down and sucks our life away.

Some of us have relationship nails. Not being able to find our desired partner. Or being with someone but not sure if he/she is the one. A partner who is insensitive/ uncaring/ emotionally unavailable.

Some of us have academic nails. Increasing backlog in school work that we need to catch up on. Upcoming exams we’ve not studied for. Pending projects and assessments that we’ve not completed yet. Revision that should have been completed long ago, but isn’t.

Some of us have health nails. Bad eating habits cause weight gain. Too much junk food, not enough healthy food. Eating too much flour, oil, and sugar. A bad posture that we should be correcting.

Some of us have dream nails. Dreams that we really want to pursue but aren’t for some reason. Dreams that we have been thinking about for a while but haven’t acted on yet. Dreams that we are scared to see unfulfilled when it’s too late for us to do anything.

And there are so many other nails. Friendship nails. Family nails. Passion nails.

Each of us has different nails poking us. Some of us have a couple of big nails that poke us every once in a while. Some of us have several small nails that poke on and off.

Some of us have multiple big and small nails that poke repeatedly. Rather than take action, most of the time we just sit and howl. Cause the pokes aren’t painful enough.

If the pain of not having money is greater than the pleasure of sitting on the couch and watching Netflix. Then the person would get their ass up and work like a dog.

But it doesn’t hurt enough. They are lying in their parent’s home. Their parents are feeding them good food. There is no need for them to work hard.

So, In the game of life. The one who ultimately wins is the one who is hurt enough. Who is pissed off at the current level of their life and wants to level up.

You’ll only win if you’re hurt enough by where your life is right now.