Count Your Pennies

I was reading a excerpt by Jim Rohn this morning regarding the power of consistency and it was so telling and overwhelmingly clear the power of consistency and its direct link to success or failure.

What truly is success or failure, or that is to say, how do we get from where we are today, to where we want to be.  We all begin and end at some point in this life and between now and then, we all live within a set set of circumstances.  Each of us has the power to interact in those circumstances and we get to choose how we define our ultimate outcomes by our reactions.  The way we react with the events in our lives is the difference between winning and losing, succeeding or failing.

The simple truth is, we don't have to make huge changes to see huge changes.  A small amount of effort over a period of time adds up.

Lets put this into several different examples to make this clear.

What if the only thing we changed in our lives was to start saving money towards our future financial security.  If we started at the age of 25 (assuming most people have either gone to college by that time and are out in the real world working, or have settled in their chosen career paths after college) and simply saved $10.00 per day every day for a period of 40 years (LONG Time) and we made 8% annually on the investment reinvesting all of the money, the total at the end of that time would be $1,021,201.  Of that total amount, you would have brought to the table $146,000.00 over a 40 year period.  But, breaking it into small bite size pieces of $10.00/day (one less coffee each day) makes it incredibly doable.

That would be a "success" in terms of investing.

Lets look at the flip side.  What would constitute a failure in terms of bit by bit, making the same mistakes over and over again.  In essence, that is what failure amounts to.  Repeating a systematic error, over and over again.  If I choose to get into shape, in the beginning I go 4 or 5 times per week and I do that consistently.  I see marked increases in terms of stamina, weight loss, energy, all of the things associated with taking control of my health.  Three months in, I make the determination, to cut back to 3 or 4 days a week.  After all, I am committed, and what is one day per week going to make a difference.  Again, I see a bit of increased results, but I start to plateau.  In my world, perfectly okay.  I reached my goals with the aggressive plan, and then I go into maintenance phase.  About three months later, I back off to 2 or 3 days per week.  Again, what is one day going to hurt.  I'm in good shape, things are going well.  As the story goes, six months later, I am down to squeezing in one day of work out in each week, my energy levels are dipping, my blood pressure is going up, my weight is most certainly on the wrong side of right.  Now, I am not working out as it seems why bother, and 2 years from now I get rushed to the hospital with heart issues.

Sad story, but a reality when we make little simple inconsequential decisions that over time compound.  It is so simple to make the right choices over and over again, and it is so simple to make the wrong choices over and over again.  The great part is, we can choose and every day is a new day to implement the action plan for success in our relationships, our health, our career, our spirituality, and our financial future.