The Power of Consistency and Compounding Actions
When we are young, we do a lot of mistakes. That's normal, because that's how we learn. Of course, it is wiser to learn from other people's failures, but most of us do many of our own too.
That's why this advice holds much value, especially in our twenties: fail often, fail fast!
But what exactly do we have in our twenties (well, not me, I'm much older now), that is in excess, besides energy and still unshattered dreams? Something we tend to waste with serenity at that age. Have you guessed it? Yes, it's time.
And time goes hand-in-hand with another notion: compounding.
You might have seen this option on your personal bank account, but didn't seem to make much of a difference in a few months or even a few years. You may have heard people talking about the importance of compounding actions over time, but still you haven't seen the results.
Let's see some results then.
First some raw numbers, just to exemplify. We are used, in the crypto world with impressive rate of returns, into the hundreds of percents yearly. That's almost obscenely high.
But let's assume, one would have a 7.5% yearly rate of return for a long period of time. That's possible, even stock market indexes can get you that.
Let's say you start with $1,000 as an initial investment, and are committed to add another $100 every month for the entire period you are committed to this plan, and that your extra money would be invested immediately. You wouldn't cash out anything either. That means that profit plus additional investments are compounded monthly.
If you are 40 when you start, and do that for 25 years, you will have in the end $94,209. The interesting part is, of this amount, $31,000 represent your contributions and $63,209 the compounded returns. What?? You get more than 100% return from compounding? Yes, you do!
Now, here's the kicker! If you are 30 and do the same thing for 35 years instead of 25 (all other details being the same), you'd have at 65 years old a nice $216,768. And compounded return would be at over 400%. Huge!
What if you're 20 and do it for 45 years? Well, you'd end up with $475,622, and with a compounded return of around 763%!!
Remember, all this started with $1,000 and $100 every month.
Ok, maybe 45 (or even 25 years) is a long time for us to be committed in a day and age of rapid changes. But most successful people usually are, at least in the areas of their interest.
So, let's give another example, about consistency and compounding actions on Steemit.
Soon after I joined Steemit, I decided to post every day. At first I commented much more. I still do, as time permits.
I regularly power up, and occasionally buy Steem, which I also use to increase my Steem Power.
To me this is a clear path to use the same principles that apply maybe mechanically and without flexibility in the example above, but ones that function nonetheless. If you are consistent in what you do and compound your actions over time, the end result will only reflect that.
So, if I post every day, if I engage with my readers but also on other people's blogs when I can and think I have something to say, if I keep powering up, the results will show. Certainly not today (although it's much better than when I started, so there's improvement already), probably not tomorrow or this week, maybe not this month either something impressive, but what about a year from now?
Remember, in the first example, the longer the period you kept compounding, the higher the rewards? Well, it's the same here on Steemit, although the rules aren't strict and of mathematical rigor, the longer and more consistent you are in your actions, the higher the compounded rewards.