Doing The Best With What You Have Now

We all don't start on equal footing. Some people seem to have it all going great for them and others have it all tough. Same 30 days a month, different salaries for different people. Same world, different realities for different people. But it's just the start. The end is what you make it to be.

You've got the same amount of the most precious resource on earth as anyone your age (technically): Time. If you make the best use of it and do a thorough planning for the future, you will be anywhere and anything you want to be. 

The principle is simple, it is the implementation that is difficult. A good illustration is a farmer. Every farmer knows that the biggest gain is in growing perennial crops that require 4 or more years of tendering before the first harvest. Crops like cocoa, coffee, rubber, oil palm, grape, orange, apple and pear. Yet you will see more farmers planting those crops that have one year lifespan. Why? Not everyone can wait 4, 5, 8, 10 years tendering a crop before the first harvest. And same with our progress in life.

Some people start on a higher footing because their parents had perennial investments that didn't require starting over every year or every few years. Some had to start from scratch. But, again, in the end it shouldn't matter. However, we would be making things difficult for ourselves and our children, if we take the annual approach. If we plant only seeds we can harvest in a year.

Doing the best with what you have is more about long-term planning. Delayed gratification. Planting seeds that won't turn harvest for the next 5, 8, 12, 15, 20 and even 25 years. Ignoring the pressure from peers who are experts at the annual and biennial ones. 

People worry that isn't it craziness to invest in ventures that won't turn up returns for 10 years and at the same time deny oneself of a lot of present comfort and enjoyment. Yes, it is if you don't really believe the 10 years will come surely. But if you do and the 10 years come, the rewards will make you want to do it again. Like banks who borrow businesses 40 year and 100 year loans. They do it because they know it's worth it and that's how they became the biggest banks.

Whether you plan adequately for it or not, the future will definitely come. 10 years, 20 years and 30 years from now will come. But it is the guy with the perennial investments who will be smiling the biggest and have enough to pass on to his children.