This year, I decided to join a group that does hikes and long distance walks regularly. I knew no one in the group except a contact that we share with my high school alumni.
As it were, the first assignment for the year was to walk 38 kms on the Saturday of 25th January. My mutual friend didn’t turn-up for this event; that meant that I had to walk in the company of complete strangers for the entire distance.
All there was, was to show up at the meet-up point, a short briefing & identification stickers and instruction on the meet-up point on completion of the walk.
Now, I have been doing solitary walks for between 10-15 kms as part of the fitness program; but not 38 kms. Thus, by all means that was a worthy challenge.
So, what lessons can we learn on money and wealth from a marathon or such a long distance walk. As it turns out, the lessons are profound:
1. Clarity of goal and focus – for such a long distance, the mental frame and focus on the main goal is supreme if you’re going to survive the challenge. This is precisely the same scenario with money and wealth. Your financial target and well defined milestones will keep you focused on the main thing;
2. Every little step counts – starting off such a challenging task is scary for everyone. But with each single step, the fear disappears and every step becomes a motivator to take the next; soon a kilometer is behind you, then another and another until the entire distance is covered. But for this to happen, you must take the first step -and so is the Journey of wealth;
3. It is not about strength, but resilience -all long distances require endurance and internal resilience. Marathoners and long distance trekkers spend most of their training building resilience & endurance. So is the world of money -wealth does not go to the strong, but to those with endurance and resilient with the small things;
4. Consistency is the best strategy – marathoners and trekkers find a comfortable speed and maintain it for as long as it takes. At that point of comfortable speeds, the body eventually autopilots the steps to carry you to the end. Success with money comes from small but consistent actions and behaviors like saving and investing, even when you don’t feel like it;
5. Not everyone you start with will finish with you -in such distances, at your comfort speed there will be those who lag behind, others will join your group, some will go ahead of you, yet all you need is to keep going. Ultimately, each one of us runs their own race, even within the crowd -that’s exactly how money and creating wealth works; and
6. There will be pain points, but the crown is worth it – in the final minutes of marathons or long treks, the energy is completely depleted, sometimes you’ll have developed painful blisters; but completing the race is exhilarating. The crown is always worth more than the pain of the race. This is precisely how it works with money -trust the process!