“I’m willing to sweat…
But
I’m not willing to bleed!”
-Jared Yellin
When I first got to college I became FANATICAL about fitness and overall health.
I would train in the gym for 3 hours everyday…
I would push weight that was almost absurd (400lbs incline bench press)...
I would run 7-15 miles a day…
And the list goes on and on and on…
I share this because my nature is to push harder than anyone else I know because I know I can…
I am a maniac…
I am relentless…
I WAS willing to bleed.
Let’s talk about blood for a moment…
When I graduated college, I started to transfer some of my insanity from the gym into insanity as an entrepreneur.
And I pushed freakin hard…
My 400lbs incline bench press was NOTHING compared to what I did as an entrepreneur…
18 hour days
ZERO time off
Travelling
Pushing
Selling
Creating
And guess what…
I became a freakin success which looked like this…
Multi 7-figure business
Clients across 20+ industries
Thought leaders seeking us out for our talent
Unreal team filled with extraordinary people
Opportunities to invest and advise other startups
No one out of reach - like no one - meetings scheduled with anyone and everyone
Invites into top mastermind groups
But when I got there, I was bloody, bruised, and my success was only because I muscled my way through…
My personal life was a mess…
My wife felt extremely unimportant…
I almost never had attention for my family…
My friends became nonexistent…
Workouts became rushed and not fun…
Taking any time to myself was an impossibility...
And then I realized something when Taylee was born (my first child, my daughter, and my inspiration)...
I am willing to sweat, but I am NOT willing to bleed.
Sweat is hard work…
Blood is pain…
Sweat is...
>Being tactical in investing one ounce of energy into something and getting 3, 4,or even 5 ounces in return.
>Intentionally formulating strategic relationships to support whatever you are looking to do - personally and professionally.
>Having a light at the end of the tunnel so when you are pushing hard there is an attainable outcome which becomes an opportunity to celebrate, recalibrate, and rebalance.
>Sustainable, fun, rewarding, and did I say SUSTAINABLE! People never burn out because of sweating too much - sweating is a HEALTHY body response to hard work.
Blood is…
>Using your grit and muscle to force an idea, opportunity, or outcome and you either burn out or you make it, but it’s a total mess.
>Negatively impactful for each person who is exposed to your journey. It’s uninspiring, unsustainable, and unfavorable for the people in your life.
>The fast track to being alone. There is really no space for anyone to love you when you are on a blood path. You become so unilaterally focused that anyone in your world feels unimportant and eventually you muscle them out.
>Completely unproductive. Anyone who used muscle and grit and blood to get to their outcome almost always falls short OR they get there and they have very little energy and resources to go any further. Think of any startup company that pushes sooooo hard to launch an MVP and then has nothing left to go-to market.
Remember….
I am willing to sweat, but I am NOT willing to bleed.
This became my new filter for decision making and guess what happened…
I got better outcomes.
I had a dramatically better life.
I got my priorities straight (Dad first, always).
But here’s the coolest part…
I have it ALL and yet…
I am driven to create WAYYYY more!
My ALL as a result of this filter…
-I stop at 5pm everyday to be DAD
-I have complete geographic freedom and decided in one week to move from CT to FL with my entire family
-I launched a company called CILA which is a tech incubator supporting over 10 tech companies in less than 4 months since our inception
-I am in the gym each day at 5am
-My relationship with my wife is whole and ready for extreme growth
-My teams are running their respective companies which gives them latitude to evolve personally and professionally
And by no means am I sharing any of this to boast…
But instead…
To show you how well this FILTER works…
For many many years I thought you had to choose between success in family OR success in business OR success in life.
This FILTER helped me realize that anything less than IT ALL was not enough.
Here’s Some Tactical And Practical For Ya
So…
Now that you know my secret - Blood vs Sweat - this is how I deploy it…
Step 1 - Every decision is compared against my CODE
Step 2 - If/then...If I do this, then what...and my then better be WAYYYY more exciting than my IF
Step 3 - How much energy do I need to invest and what is my expected output of energy
Step 4 - If my CODE is satisfied, and my if/then makes sense, and the energy produced is at least 4x, then I am ALL-IN and will never look back
These steps take me about 5 minutes to complete and I encourage you to try them on for size…
And these are NOT for your business only…
Use them in personal relationships
Use them if you need to relocate
Use them with your investments
Use them with your hobbies
Use them with as many decisions as possible because you will begin to condition yourself to adopt a filter that has radically changed my life…
I am willing to sweat, but I am NOT willing to bleed.
And if you are BLEEDING your way to success…
There is a better way - I promise.
It’s called sweat and I encourage you to dial it back so that you can propel it forward while HAVING it all.
Live with Intention, JY