Before the age of internet, to become good at something you had to learn from mentors.
To become a good hunter, you learned from a renowned hunter. To become a painter, you learned from a successful painter. And to become a writer, you had to convince a writer to teach you.
So, most people spent years and years of their life getting educated in school, in college, and in university.
But internet changed things. Now, you can learn anything from videos, from youtube.
You may not become a world renowned artist but you can learn the basics of painting through youtube.
You may not become a successful investor but you can improve your finances by reading a couple of books on personal finance and investing.
It's safe to say that internet is full of opportunities and resources. However, people who are patient enough to learn are missing.
Only a few are hungry enough to spend thousands of hours and thousands of dollars to get the right education.
Why?
Because they know that picking up the right knowledge will pay dividends throughout their life.
Still, most people miss the point. And don't try much to make their future better.
Why? Because they are not sure about the results
If you workout daily and avoid eating junk food, you will get in much better shape.
But how much better?
Like Cristiano Ronaldo better or just you a little better.
There are no end results in sights.
Similarly, if you are able to write 30 mins daily for a year, you will get better at writing. But how much better?
JK Rowling better. Hemingway better.
Or just little better. Like a few people might say 'good work' better.
There is no measurement.
The only reason for people to work harder today, to push themselves → is if they are 100% sure they will get something better tomorrow.
And the results are worth the efforts. Worth sacrifice.
Investing money is easy, investing time is difficult
While it's easy to spend it all now and enjoy your life, rational humans understand that there is a tomorrow. And they have to make it better than today. So they invest their money.
Most people don't have much money. Just enough to barely survive. Still, they manage to save and invest some of it.
Why?
Because they are somewhat sure they will get better returns in the future.
They believe that investing their money will give them a feeling of relief. Just in case they lose their job, they will have some cash to rely upon.
They understand the concept of delayed gratification → Don't spend small amounts today and you get to spend bigger amounts tomorrow. (Hopefully!)
For example, people invest in bitcoin and wait for months, even years. Because they believe that it will pay off. There is almost no chance of it going to zero.
Considering the number of buyers and users of bitcoin out there, and number of projects built in the cryptocurrency sphere, there will be definitely someone out there who would want to buy a bitcoin.
The number of successful stories of people becoming a millionaire by investing in cryptocurrencies solidify your belief to invest your money. Somewhere inside you, you too believe that one day you will become rich.
Results almost looks promising. And drawbacks are little. You might lose money but not all of it(unless you are an idiot like me and trading on high leverage 😅)
While investing your money can make a certain difference in your future, investing your time in learning can make a bigger difference.
What you do now will impact your life in 10 years.
The results compound in a 10 year period
A lot of animals store their food. They are not as smart as human beings. But in a few areas, they know the benefit of delaying gratification.
If they don't eat all of their food, they know that they won't die of hunger in the next few days or weeks.
And in that time, they can pursue other useful activities. Such as hunting for more food, resting to regain their energy, looking for better prey, or securing their area.
Suppose you can resist the temptation to spend everything now.
Suppose you don't spend all of your income every month. Instead, you invest 10% of it every month for 10 years.
The compound magic will take its reins. And in a decade, you will be sitting on a nice chunk of money.
Suppose you can resist the temptation to be lazy for 30 mins.
Similarly, if you do exercise for 30 mins a day. You might sweat a little bit.
But repeating it for a decade, you will be fit and fine.
Suppose you can push yourself to write for 30 mins everyday
Writing for 30 mins a day → you might come off with a few good sentences.
Writing 30 mins a day for 30 days → you might come off with a few good articles.
Writing 30 mins a day for 30 years → you can call yourself a damn good writer.
Here, a community like hive plays a big role.
When you spend your time in a community where the expected behavior is the one you want to adopt, you will find 100 reasons to adopt it.
If you surround yourself with the right people, you can see 100s of people who are happy doing what you want to do.
You can't magically fix all your problems. You can't make everything right today. But you have to start somewhere. Today or one day → 10 years down the line.