One of the Most Important Lessons I've Learned

Normally I like to post stuff from the books I read or whatever else I'm normally doing in a day - documenting instead of creating - but I was explaining one of my projects and overall philosophy on working to a friend of mine and I figured I would explain it a bit in a blog post.

I think this is a fundamental principle that everyone who's successful has had to learn at some point in their life and I feel that ever since I learned to think of work in this way, it's paid off massive dividends.

It's the idea of waiting for the payoff - it's being able to realize that not everything has an immediate and short-term ROI (return on investment) that's blatantly obvious and spendable.

Just because you put the work in, doesn't mean you can go to the bank at the end of the day...

Putting the work into something that you love is only part of the equation of success. Patience and gratitude constitute other parts of that equation as well.

I reinvest a lot of my money.. actually, I would say well over 95% of my money is being constantly reinvested into my main business and investments.

I don't go out (save for the very infrequent holiday or vacation - maybe 3-5x a year in total), I don't buy a lot of fancy stuff like cars and watches and clothes, and I honestly eat a very simple diet and don't like to spend money on food from restaurants.

This kind of lifestyle can get lonely at times and my friends and family have told me from time to time that they wonder if I just hate my life because its so bland.

I think it's on the contrary though. I find the most meaning to my life in the daily grind of it all.

In fact, there are times when I do feel "down in the dumps" so to speak. They happen occasionally and what I've noticed is that they only happen when I have "idle" periods of time in my life - when I don't have some sort of project, business or investment to work on and I'm not inspired by any of the reading or writing that I do.

Those are my lowest moments. When I'm in my daily routine and I'm grinding to achieve my goals, I'm at my happiest state. There is nothing that can tear me out of that mindset when I'm deep in the trenches.

That's just the kind of person I am though. I don't need to immediate payoff and immediate gratification right now... I'm perfectly happy - in fact, I'm happier - working hard for a long time, being patient and allowing my success to compound while I live in the present and do what I love!