Persistence Pays Big bucks

Slow. Steady.

Compound Growth.

It all adds up - at the end.

More Money.

& Paradise.

Want less stress? Wanna sleep better at night?

Be a tortoise!!!

A Winner Never Quits (and a quitter never wins)

Here’s my version of one of Aesop’s best fables.

The Tortoise and the Hare story -----------

I just stood there. Waiting. I didn’t budge.

Not until ALL,

and I mean EVERYONE, was “outta my way”.

There were 956 of them.

I stood at the very back of the pack. I was THE VERY LAST ONE.

Andrew was upfront somewhere. He was a competitive sort of soul. In a great number of things in life. (He was a very good friend nonetheless.)

Then, the gun sounded, the front of the pack started. And then more. And more.

As the mass of everyone in front of me slowly started to move forward and “get out of my way”, I started to inch forward myself, until I could start walking - with no one in my way.

Then I started walking.

It was a fast walk. But, a walk, nonetheless.

And, it was a relaxed walk. I really just wanted to finish.

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This was the Mt. Evans Marathon.

14.6 miles.

At - ALTITUDE!!!

It starts at Echo Lake - elevation, 10,600 ft.

You finish at the summit. @ 14,265 ft.

You can see the mountain massive from Denver, Colorado.

I had a doctor friend, from Leeds, England. He was on the track team there. Me? I ran the ‘high hurdles’. But, I also did a lot of “road work” for wrestling.

We were young. The same age. And we thought it would be a good challenge to run this marathon. A different kind of marathon.

Andrew trained moderately 3-4 times a week for about a month. For some reason, and I don’t quite remember why, I didn’t train hardly at all. A little. But, not much.

The day came.

I wasn’t concerned with where I finished. As long as I finished.

Remember, this started at 10,600 feet above sea level.

And ended at 14,265 feet.

14.6 miles at this altitude.

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So I walked. And walked. And just kept on walking.

Eventually, I actually started passing people. And then some more. And more.

Now Andrew did fairly well. At first. But, the altitude catches up to you.

He ran the first 12 some miles in 2 hours. It took him 1 whole hour to run the last 2.6 miles. His time was, I think, 3 hrs. and 11 minutes. I don’t remember what his finishing place was.

But, here’s the thing.

I walked the entire 14.6 miles. And I finished only 20 minutes behind him. I finished in 523rd place.

I started “dead last”. And I passed 442 runners. Not quite half.

But. I did finish.

I was a pretty damn good tortoise. The hare didn’t beat me by all that much.

And I sure beat a lot of other “hares”.

I ran it again the next year. With broken ribs from a few months earlier. But, I finished. In pretty much the same fashion.

With the same strategy – playing the tortoise.

And not quitting.

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Here’s a related question:

"would you rather have a million dollars right now, or a ‘penny” doubled every day for a month?"

At the end of 30 days, will you have more or less than $1M? I’m sure you can guess what the answer is. (It’s true. Do the math. Google it up.)

Now, obviously, it’s easy to double a penny. 4 cents. etc. But, when you get to any moderate amounts, doubling this each and every day is difficult.

But, the idea behind getting a decent return, each and every day, is what is important. i.e. - Persistence.

Change that daily routine into a yearly one. And change doubling every year to a realistic return, say 8 – 15 %. Conservatively. (This is roughly industry standard.) You might get more some years. Other years less.

The point is,

if you become the “tortoise”, and get such ROI year over year, you will “finish the race” and have a comfortable “win”.

Less stress.

Better sleep.

And an almost arrogant peace-of-mind attitude.