As some probably noticed, I have been going on a bit of a personal journey of late, looking at improving my position in life across the three core parts of myself, the mental, physical and the emotional. There are many things to dive into, but one of the aspects I have recently reminded myself of, is my own personal philosophy that I have lived by for over a decade.
A bit at a time, the world changes
This is not some newage nonsense, it is just fact. All movement is progressive, and time is just a way to track the motion for us to make sense of it. Of course, if we actually were to take a true snapshot of a particular point in time, there would be no motion, but in that moment, time doesn't exist anyway. But that is a case for another day.
Essentially though, everything is made up of tiny movements, some kind of action, reaction, followed by an endless cycle from the beginning of movement, to the time where everything stops again. We of course only live in a sliver of the grand movement of all things as an individual, yet we are also part of the meta, able to make minute shifts in the universe.
That does sound newage-y
At a practical level though, this means that we are able to shift course, change our direction, do something different. And any move, has consequences, up, down, left, right, forwards, or backwards. We can get improvement upward, or we can slide downward. However, similar to rolling earnings of an investment back into the investments or across into other generative income streams, actions can compound. This means that marginal gains across many areas, can have dramatic effects over time.
This works in reverse too.
So, rather than focusing and going "all in" on a specific item of improvement in my life, I am looking to spread my investment wider, and look to improve multiple areas incrementally, simultaneously. There are risks in this, because it can lead to nothing happening if not paying attention, as well as "disappointment" because especially at the start, not much happens. This is easy to visualize with money.
For example, if you were to save 100 dollars a week for a year when you were 20, you would have $5200. If you were to invest it at 10% for the next year, you would have $5720, a gain of 520. Easy. However, even if you didn't add anything more to it, if you kept getting 10% for the next 45 years and retired at 65, there would be $379,000 in that account. But, if you let it sit for another 2 years and retired at 67, there would be $459,000. Not too shabby.
But, this is how it works with everything, yet we aren't always going to be able to get large gains from everything we do. But, if we do enough of the right things and make gains in those, over time, we can be in a completely different situation than the trajectory we had been on prior to making the changes. And, it doesn't take much.
For instance, making a small dietary change like skipping a snack or eating something healthy for a snack instead each day, will make a significant change to the body over the space of a year. Doing an extra set or one more rep at the gym, or going for an additional 10 minute work on a lunch break, compounds with the change in diet to bring inflated benefits.
What affect does it have on the mind and emotions?
Perhaps we feel a little bit better about ourselves, just for doing something we believe is in our best interest. Perhaps in a few months we look in the mirror, and notice a change, and then maybe we build our appreciation of ourselves a little and then add a longer walk, or change the dinner menu also. We could even become slightly more confident, a little happier, a little more social, a little less victim.
Who knows.
Like an investment, the outcomes are not guaranteed. But similarly, it is is pretty predictable to know what the outcome looks like when no investments are made. People often laugh at those whose investments fail, like all those people who revel in the crash of Bitcoin. And then revel again when it drops "down", without recognizing that it is also up 10x on when that same person chose to laugh at the stupid investors.
Small amounts add up.
Abd fir me, I am hoping that if I can stay attentive, if I can maintain awareness, I will be able to make small, consistent investments into parts of my life that matter, in the same way that I have done it on Hive. It has been a lot of work of course, and at times it "wasn't worth it", but those small amounts add up, compound, and become part of something much larger, something that opens new doors, new opportunities, new relationships.
We never know what the future holds.
As said, there are no guarantees, but it is likely that if we don't take care of ourselves, we are going to degrade at an increasing rate. Even if we do take care of ourselves, it doesn't mean we will improve, but it might slow the slide. But more than that, when we feel okay, when we are happy with ourselves, confident in what we are doing, we are more likely to be in the right frame of situation to take the opportunities that will help us further our cause.
One percent.
It doesn't seem like much. But compound interest returns some crazy numbers. Like if starting with 100 dollars and getting 1% a day, the first year would see $3,778, the second $142,758, and the third $5,393,917.
Getting 1% a day on the crypto markets doesn't seem to hard, does it? But every day, over and over, rolling in every time - that i the challenge. It is far easier to look for the big score, the massive spike, the life changing moment - instead of recognizing that our life is changing constantly.
Whether we do something.
Or we do nothing.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
It is interesting how doing something consistently or not doing something can really snowball into some big issues. My dad spent thirty years working in a factory on his feet. When he retired he resolved that he would sit as much as possible. He can still get around, but he is definitely weaker because of all the sitting. If anything, I hope to be more active when I retire because I won't be at a desk all day.
For sure. The more we sit, the lower our quality of life gets I think.
As much as we use spreadsheets to calculate economic yield in crypto and see the benefits over the years, I would add that any small percentage of improvement in those three areas of yourself, even if it does not compound at all, is worth every single effort.
Yep. There is satisfaction in doing something to improve - even if not much happens because of it :)
Even at a 1/2%, one is still moving forward. I know exactly what the future will hold for me. A slow and steady growth financially as I have always believed. For my physical well being, my arthritic knees and hip will deteriorate further since I elected not to have knee and hip replacements.
Such is life moving forward. Sometimes you just know moving forward at 1/2%. I accept that and look forward to it.
Take care.
Aging sucks, doesn't it? I think because physically it really only gets harder, we should look for other areas to improve to compensate.
Yes, we should look for other areas of our lives to find contentment. Mine consists of nurturing my granddaughter through high school and beyond. You know, the hardest part has been slowing down our RV travel.
Take care. Appreciate the engagement. Have a good weekend.
Compound interest is amazing if you have the time. It does make me wonder how things will go though but I think 1% a day in crypto seems pretty crazy. The markets are unpredictable and I wouldn't trust myself to make so many trades.
Yeah, it was just an example.
Getting a consistent 1 percent a day? Where can I get a non meme coin return like that?
But I do get what you're saying. Little improvements do add up. It is nice that you are working on improving yourself and your life.
You can't. It would have to be traded - lots of risk - but technically possible ;)
I know precisely what future holds: massive costs of glasses. In total they will cost 450. The worst part is that this still falls within my expectations... At least I hope that will serve me another 10 year( I used my current glasses for about 11 years).
on the + side I got lucky in splinterlands:
Nice pull!
There is a saying: ‘Money grows on the tree of patience’. And I think it's not just money. For us to see any change or development in our body or finances, we must not only walk towards what we want and work towards it. We must also, undoubtedly, have patience, be an ally of time and remember that today we sit under a tree, which a person planted some time ago. In this case, we can sit under the shade of a tree that we ourselves have had the intelligence to plant. Greetings
I honestly really enjoyed reading this. your journey to improve by 1% each day is truly noble.Your insights on making small, consistent changes are also inspiring to newbies like me. It’s great how you compare this to investing, showing how little actions can add up over time.. I've learned so much from just one blog😍
I love your philosophy!
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Experience is always a positive account and Experiences also strengthen foresight. However, we should always have an informed choice.
Persistence is king.
Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race." —Calvin Coolidge
One step for the goal is an achievement too.😊
@tipu curate
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People laugh at those who fail because they don’t make efforts and they decide to laugh at others who are trying to make something out of nothing.
One step at a time is the goal and we gotta be persistent and consistent if we really want something