A short (~5 minute) Uncommon Excellence podcast episode in which host Liam Applegate introduces a new micro-segment called “Uncommon Moments.” He shares and reflects on the runner’s mantra — “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional” (citing a runner’s brother, as relayed via Haruki Murakami’s book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running) — and applies it to work, training, and life. The episode includes brief book mentions (a book about Sam Murray, and Murakami’s running memoir), a promotional note about Uncommon Excellence Premium, and a closing call-to-action to follow/rate/share.
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So today this episode is going to be a little bit different. This is just going to be an inspirational quote for you going into your day. And the quote that I want to leave you with today, this will be a quick five minute episode. This is the first uncommon moment, or uncommon quote. I think I'm going to call it Uncommon Moments. But this is the first uncommon moment. And the idea behind this is I want to give a quote that inspires you for the rest of your day. You can enjoy it and really just take it to heart in a light, you know, five minute episode. So no time at all. One of the biggest things that I want to do, though, is this is something I'm going to be doing frequently on Uncommon Excellence Premium. And if you haven't heard about that, that's my premium service. I'm still determining a price for it, but I think you should definitely sign up and go to the link below and it will send you to the page and you can sign up for the premium version of Uncommon Excellence. So let's get into this quote. And this is something that just has changed my mentality over the last couple of days. And the quote is, pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. This is coming from a new book I'm reading. So I have two books I'm reading right now. One is about Sam the Banana man, or Sam's Murray, who is America's Banana king. That's a book that I'm halfway done. Still need to make a podcast episode on it. But trying to do in the best way possible to deliver you guys with one of the best episodes you'll listen to. And then I started this book because I've gotten into running. It's called what I Talk About When I Talk About Running. And it's by Haruki Marukami and one of the greatest writers in history, or he writes a ton of fiction, sold millions and millions of copies of books. Um, and he loves to run. He just loves to do that. And that was something that was really interesting to me just to hear about, where it's like, all right, this guy actually does it. And so that's something that was really interesting. But he said, I was digging into people's mantras because you can't just run without a mantra. And so what he said was there was people being interviewed, and they were interviewing this one runner in this marathon, and they asked him, hey, what's a mantra that keeps you going? And he said, well, I have this brother, or I, you know, I have this brother that also runs. And he Always says that pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. And I thought that was just really stellar advice because when you think about it, pain is going to happen no matter what, whether it's in your job, whether that's in a workout, whether that's just in anywhere else. But the thing is that pain is going to happen in your life. You can choose to cause that pain to yourself, or you can just choo to let it inflict you. But the thing is, is that pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. So it's all a mental game. All that suffering, all that, just everything in your head you ch, you can choose to suffer or not. That's totally up to you. But that's the biggest key where it's this idea of suffering. So the whole goal is to put yourself apart, be different, right? So just remember, pain is inevitable. Pain is going to happen. Pain is always going to be there. You can choose to, you know, go into that cold plunge, go into the sauna, go and run that mile or two in under a certain amount of time. You can go and choose to stay up late and work, or you can choose to do something, right? You can choose to inflict that pain with, you know, rather than other things. There's going to be pain no matter what. You'll lose a loved one, something will happen, right? But you can choose whether or not that suffering is optional, that suffering does not have to haunt you, or have to make you suffer throughout days and nights, right? And Mark Twain says that worrying is a gift that you don't want to be given because it makes you worry days in advance, days afterwards, it just, it's a gift that you don't want to be given. And, you know, I totally, you know, botched the quote, but it's, it's, it's something of that nature. And I think it's just really important that you remember pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. And that is one of the best things that you can remember as you go into your day to day. So I'm hoping this really inspired you. This is just a taste of what Uncommon Excellence Premium looks like. That's going to be a whole separate thing that you can sign up. And if you want to support the podcast, please do. Drop a follow, you know, rate the podcast, drop a comment, and if you really like this podcast, share it with a couple of friends. Because I'm committed to making this the best podcast in the world and I won't stop until I succeed. And I hope that you enjoy your day, go out live and be uncommon and do it with excellence. Thank you for listening to this Uncommon Moment with Liam Applegate. Thank you.
