“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty” – Proverbs 21:5
We live in a very impatient world. We want everything immediately. If there is something that requires some effort and time, we balk at it. We would much rather choose the path of quick success and effortless wealth. As a result, many of us are not where we're hoping to be. The paths of quick success leave us unsuccessful, and all the paths of effortless wealth leave us impoverished. Sadly, many of us, rather than learn from our mistakes, continue down the same road thinking that eventually, we will reach success. We are like Homer Simpson on one of his many failed attempts at becoming rich (this one being a love potion he made with Grandpa Simpson), “After being disappointed by so many get rich quick schemes, I know this scheme will get me rich, and quick.”
There is another choice. Granted, it will not lead to immediate success. This choice requires a lot of effort and patience. If you continue on this road, it will lead to abundance. This is the undesirable path of diligence. Merriam Webster defines diligence as, “steady, earnest, and energetic effort: devoted and painstaking work and application to accomplish an undertaking.” Let’s be real, nothing about that definition appeals to our impatient society. We don’t mind giving effort, but we don’t want to give steady, earnest, and energetic effort. We don’t mind working, but we certainly don’t want to do painstaking work. The reality is that diligence is the recipe for success. The fastest way to becoming successful in your work is by working with diligence. The quickest way to create lasting wealth is by being patient. To put it into perspective, 80.3% of millionaires are above the age of 50[i]. This means that a person had to put in decades of work to build their wealth.
Jobs that suggest that you can become a millionaire quickly tend to be a scam. Investments that claim to make you an instant millionaire tend to be dangerously risky. Those schemes may make some rich, but the overwhelming majority of people tend to fail rather than succeed. Even legitimate careers (Surgeons, professional athletes, etc…) that make people wealthy as soon as they start, tend to be careers where an individual had to put in a lot of hours of painstaking work before they finally made it.
If you choose to bypass the diligence required to becoming successful, that is at your own peril. As a financial advisor, I have talked to and read about countless of individuals who, desiring to bypass diligence, put themselves in distressing situations. They took on debt that they shouldn’t have because they thought it would supercharge their path to success. They invested in products they shouldn’t have because they were told that, “this was the secret way millionaires became rich.” They settled for jobs that gave them an immediate high income with a low ceiling, rather than take a better job that may have had a lower starting salary but a much higher ceiling over time. The desire to bypass diligence and patience always ends up biting us in the rear. But if you choose to take the undesirable path of diligence, you will not regret it.
Let me give you a personal story about myself and how choosing the path of diligence benefited me. I started out as a financial advisor fresh out of college in 2010. For those of you who may not know, as a financial advisor, you can work for a company and receive a decent salary, or you can work for a company and earn commissions. I chose the latter. While getting a salary would have pleased my parents, I trusted that being a diligent worker would yield me better fruit than a salary would have in the long run. That first full calendar year (2011) was difficult. I worked long hours and barely made anything. By the end of 2011, I had only made $18,000. I was definitely NOT living in luxury. However, I trusted that eventually the work would pay off; so, I kept grinding. By the end of 2012, I doubled my income and made $36,000. Still not a great income, but I could see the work start to pay off; so, I continued to grind. By the end of 2013, I doubled my income again and made $72,000. The painstaking work was finally starting to pay off! Fast forward a decade later, and now I am in a position where work for my wife is an option, not a necessity, and we are able to live relatively comfortably. Had I chosen a job that promised a nice income immediately with little upside, I would not be in the position I am now. I give this story, not to brag about myself, but to highlight the fact that I am a testament of what can happen when you are patient and choose the undesirable path of diligence. It may not be fun going through the path, but if you can be patient and endure, your work will bear fruit.
In a world where we are inundated with promises of quick wealth or immediate success, take the tried-and-true path that will ensure that your success will be lasting, take the undesirable path of diligence.
[i] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/average-american-millionaire-61-years-110000860.html