Think Create - Leon Grey's Blog

Is there something that you always complain about but do nothing to fix it?  Do you have friends who say

• I wish I could lose some weight
• I wish I could earn more money
• Why dont I have a steady relationship

In this great life of ours, most of us have something to complain about, but strangely enough don’t do anything about it.  We complain so much that our friends say, why don’t you just do something about it then?  But we don’t.

This is where the Dog and the Nail story comes in.  My old boss told me this story a couple of times when I was complaining about why I wasnt getting the money I wanted and why I wasnt succeeding in certain aspects of my life.  The story has stuck with me ever since.

Now I don’t remember this story word for word, but I will retell it to you as best I can.

A man had been driving through the country on an old dusty road and was looking for somewhere to rest and stretch his legs.  He had been driving for some hours and had not passed any places where he could rest and recharge.

As the sun started its decent into the afternoon the man saw in the distance a small farmhouse.  As he drove closer he could see an old farmer sitting on a chair looking out into his fields.

The man, who was in need of a break decided he would pull up to the farm and see if he could rest a while.  The man pulled up on the roadside and walked up the well worn driveway.  When he approached the old farmer he asked if he could sit next to him and rest a while.  The farmer looked up with a piece of straw in his mouth, smiled and nodded at the man. 

As the man walked to take his seat next to the old farmer he noticed an old working dog lying beside the farmers legs.

Giving the dog a quick pat the man sat himself on the next chair and closed his eyes to give them a well deserved rest.

As time went by the man noticed that the dog sitting next to the farmer would suddenly howl and winge in great pain then suddenly stop.

The dog did this 3 to 4 times in the hour he had been sitting there and finally the man looked over at the old farmer and asked, ‘why does your dog howl and winge every now and then?’

The farmer looked down at the dog, shook his head and looked up at the man, the old farmer replied, “you see son this old dog here is lying on a nail, but its only hurts enough to winge about”.

The man looked at the dog and wondered to himself how many things in his life hurt only enough to complain about, but not enough to do something about.

This story is ingrained in my mind and helps me put into perspective anything that I complain about.  I hope this story propels you into action so you dont end up being the, ‘old dog’.

A special thankyou to my old boss and mentor Philip Langley for telling me this story and guiding me back to the path of success.

I wish you less pain and more action!

Leon Grey