When I first heard this question I chose the million dollars. My reasoning was how much I could invest and make from that startup capital. Little did I realize, I missed out on at least 4 million dollars.
There is some consolation in the fact that 90% of people would choose the million dollars over doubling their pennies. But who wants to live a life like 90% of the population?
The chart below shows the power of doubling your pennies every day for a month. It is an example of what daily habits building upon each other can accomplish.
This is the power of compounding. I believe it was Dave Ramsey who talked about the skill level it takes to be world class in any endeavor.
We have all seen the individual who works at the gym for a few weeks or even a few months. That person will have results for that time period, and if they stop after that the results begin to fade away. Dave says show him someone who takes a full year and focuses their efforts on a single goal and after that year they can coast for another year or two. But if you find someone who stays hungry, and does not relent for an entire decade, then you have found someone who is world class - you have found an Olympian.
The compounding efforts of a persevering, passionate, and tenacious person or team will carry more weight than the one time magic of an entire army.
I read that Michael Phelps trained for over 10 years and only missed a few practices. That is practicing every day for 10 years and being able to count on one hand the number of times you did not practice a skill or pursue that goal you wrote down. That is powerful.
It is okay if we fall away for a day or two from our pursuit. Our problems arise when we don't get back on track. We must stop looking at past failures or lapses in our goals or dreams, and rebound every time.
We lose the possibilities of compounding if we stop working towards our dream after a setback. If we are content to look for that home run scenario and wait on that then it is more likely we will fail than succeed. Success is never won in a day - our success is won every morning. It is won by consistency and not sporadic work.
May you win the day and put the tidal force of compounding to work for you. I promise you won't regret it.
Thank you for visiting.