Remember this when you are in a rush.

One of the sayings we hear over and over is that “Life is Short”. But is it really? The average person today will live to be 80 years old! Does that seem short to you?

So, what is your rush? You don’t expect one workout to make you fit or to be able to lift 500 pounds after a month in the gym. You don’t expect one meal to make you the weight you want. It takes time to change but once it becomes a part of you it will last a lifetime. If it changes too quickly however it will not last period.  If it was that easy everyone would have done it.

College graduates are supposed to have their entire lives mapped out when they graduate at 21 years old!  Most people don’t even know what they are going to have for dinner that night, let alone have their whole lives figured out.  What is the rush to get results? 

Successful people have spent many years, possibly decades working on their craft to become successful.  Even professional athletes spend most of their lives deliberately practicing their sport before they make a dime from it.  By the time a professional athlete makes the big leagues, they have probably spent more than 15 years preparing. 

Wayne Gretzky started to skate at 18 months old.  His Dad Walter made an ice rink in their backyard and young Wayne would practice for 6 hours every day!  By the time he was 7, he was playing against 10 years olds and scoring up to 10 goals per hockey game.  The reason he dominated hockey was the work he put in BEFORE he got to the big leagues.  He outworked all other players and he had patience.

The great Warren Buffett has been quoted saying that one of the great secrets to his investing success is patience.  He began investing at 10 years old and accumulated one of the largest fortunes in history.  Keep in mind that he is 90 years old, which means that his investing time horizon has been 80 years.  That is certainly quite an endorsement for patience!

Now no one is saying that you need to practice 6 hours a day in a sport, or to invest your money for almost a century.  The point is that long lasting success is the result of hard work over long periods of time.  Unless you are quite elderly, what is the rush?  The odds are that you have many years of living to do. 

Life is LONG. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Enjoy the ride.