Time Perspectives:Money and Fitness
May 11th 2008 12:54
In the United States a cottage industry has grown up around the analysis of self-made millionaires. Since most of us are likely to be millionaires of the self-made variety, this research has attracted a fair number of readers. For our purposes-fitness-this literature yields a whole bag full of useful principles. Today I mention just one.
Students of self-made millionaires have discovered a direct correlation between the length of the time perspective of the individual and the amount of wealth he/she is able to ultimately accumulate.Simply put, those who projected their goals and focus farthest out into the future ended up with the most money. That simply means that when short term satisfaction comes into conflict with longer term goals the former wins.It also means that when relatively longer term satisfactions come into conflict with even longer term satisfactions the longest term wins.
I don't know about any of you but this last paragraph is the stuff of comptemplation. If I want a million dollars(I prefer a million Canadian dollars ...or Austrialian!), I am more likely to get it if I focus on creating the future years,if not decades from now! That means that the stop by the latte shop for five dollars coffee is not going to happen because I want a million dollars 10 or 20 years from now. That also means that the five bedroom house with the pool is not going to happen. Three bedrooms and a carport are going to have to do,because I want a million dollars in the somewhat distance future.
Think about all the daily decisions someone who wants to be a millionaire from scratch has to make. If he makes them from an entirely longest term perspective he'll come out with that amount and more-- in the distant future.The decisions for fitness are exactly the same. A young boy sees a man with big muscles and wishes that he could have them. He enters a gym and begins to train. The muscles don't just pop up,though. He now enters "the perspective zone" in his training. If he is not willing to take on years of hard work he will never have those big muscles. If he foregoes the easy lifestyle of the masses he will have a chance. His life will now become a seemingly endless series of short term decisions made on the basis of long, long term perspective. Wow.
The same is true for the person who simple wants to be fit. If he/she is fat and soft there is no option but to think long term and deny the present for the future. I suggest here also the longest perspective is the better. Think of all the 50-65 year olds you know who have really lost it. You will get a more fit body if you demand from yourself that you will never let that happen. Every decision about diet and exercise must be made around that consideration. Wow again. That's serious focus. In my next effort I want to delve a little deeper into this idea and show how insane fitness at 35 means you will have it alot easier staying fit at 55.Your servant, as always.
Students of self-made millionaires have discovered a direct correlation between the length of the time perspective of the individual and the amount of wealth he/she is able to ultimately accumulate.Simply put, those who projected their goals and focus farthest out into the future ended up with the most money. That simply means that when short term satisfaction comes into conflict with longer term goals the former wins.It also means that when relatively longer term satisfactions come into conflict with even longer term satisfactions the longest term wins.
I don't know about any of you but this last paragraph is the stuff of comptemplation. If I want a million dollars(I prefer a million Canadian dollars ...or Austrialian!), I am more likely to get it if I focus on creating the future years,if not decades from now! That means that the stop by the latte shop for five dollars coffee is not going to happen because I want a million dollars 10 or 20 years from now. That also means that the five bedroom house with the pool is not going to happen. Three bedrooms and a carport are going to have to do,because I want a million dollars in the somewhat distance future.
Think about all the daily decisions someone who wants to be a millionaire from scratch has to make. If he makes them from an entirely longest term perspective he'll come out with that amount and more-- in the distant future.The decisions for fitness are exactly the same. A young boy sees a man with big muscles and wishes that he could have them. He enters a gym and begins to train. The muscles don't just pop up,though. He now enters "the perspective zone" in his training. If he is not willing to take on years of hard work he will never have those big muscles. If he foregoes the easy lifestyle of the masses he will have a chance. His life will now become a seemingly endless series of short term decisions made on the basis of long, long term perspective. Wow.
The same is true for the person who simple wants to be fit. If he/she is fat and soft there is no option but to think long term and deny the present for the future. I suggest here also the longest perspective is the better. Think of all the 50-65 year olds you know who have really lost it. You will get a more fit body if you demand from yourself that you will never let that happen. Every decision about diet and exercise must be made around that consideration. Wow again. That's serious focus. In my next effort I want to delve a little deeper into this idea and show how insane fitness at 35 means you will have it alot easier staying fit at 55.Your servant, as always.
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