The Real Secret to Growing Over Time (That Nobody Tells You)
If you want to live a secure, rewarding, and free life, you don’t need to be extraordinary. You don’t need to be a genius. You don’t need to “hack” success.
These methods don’t work.
You need to do something much simpler:
Reinvest 10-20% of your time and resources into things that grow slowly over time.
Then, you repeat that process every day, every week, every year—for decades.
This sounds boring. It is boring.
And that’s why almost nobody does it. But if you can stick with it, the rewards are staggering.
Why Most People Stay Stuck
The idea of slow growth seems outdated. When you search “how to get rich” online, you’ll find flashy stories: influencers, crypto millionaires, NBA players, etc.
This is garbage.
Flat out garbage.
Who do you actually know in your life where this happen?
For most, this is no one.
No one.
But here’s the truth: those stories are entertainment. They’re not a plan.
The real story—the one very few people search for, and even fewer follow—is quiet. It’s made of:
- Getting a useful education you can afford
- Earning a stable income
- Living below your means
- Reinvesting your savings into things that grow slowly (index funds, skills, businesses)
- Ignoring social pressure
- Doing this for 30, 40, 50 years
Compound interest does the rest.
I think you really read this post about loving the journey, not the outcome.
Why Most People Suck Too (And Why That’s Okay)
Most people suck.
And I mean that in the most honest, empathetic way possible. Be honest. You do too.
And, me.
The world runs on a Pareto distribution—where 20% of people capture 80% of the rewards. It’s not because everyone else is lazy or bad; it’s because life is messy, complicated, and hard. I have done research on this for decades, and this is the constant finding.
We all suck.
Most of us are just trying to get by.
But, some people do “make it.”
How?
You don’t need to be in the top 1% to succeed. You don’t even need to be in the top 20%.
You just need to be persistent. Even when things are stacked against you.
You need to consistently reinvest when everyone else quits.
You WILL see everyone quitting.
You WILL see few people trying.
People WILL make fun of you.
You need to quietly build when others are chasing the next shiny thing.
What is Compound Interest, Really?
Compound interest is simple: it’s growth on top of growth. Every time your investments earn a little return, those returns get reinvested.
- To understand just how powerful compounding is, think about this:
- $100 becomes $110 after one year.
- $110 becomes $121 after two years.
- $121 becomes $133.10 after three years.
- $133.10 becomes $146.41 after four years.
- $146.41 becomes $161.05 after five years.
- $161.05 becomes $177.16 after six years.
- $177.16 becomes $194.87 after seven years.
- $194.87 becomes $214.36 after eight years.
- $214.36 becomes $235.79 after nine years.
- $235.79 becomes $259.37 after ten years.
And if you keep going, that pattern continues. Every year it grows a little more, and over 60 years, that original $100 can grow into nearly $3,300 without doing anything other than letting it compound at a steady rate. Slowly but surely, the money multiplies into something incredible—far beyond what you could imagine from the beginning.
If you consistently reinvest and allow compounding to happen, your $100 could grow into $3,000 or more over a lifetime, assuming a modest 7% annual return, which is close to the historical average for the S&P 500 over the last 100 years.
Investment Is Not Just For The Stock Market
This growth is often much larger than inflation. Inflation averages about 2–3% per year historically, but long-term investments in the S&P 500 have averaged about 10% annually. That means your money isn’t just keeping up—it’s growing significantly faster than the cost of living.
Investing in yourself—through education, skills development, and continuous learning—has even higher returns. Getting a college degree can increase your lifetime earnings by a lot (maybe $1 million?) compared to having only a high school diploma. Look up the research–this is well understood.
Even smaller educational investments—like learning a new skill or trade—often result in 10%–30% higher earnings over time.
Don’t Underestimate Compound Interest.
It doesn’t seem like much at first. But over long periods, it becomes unstoppable.
Here are simple examples:
- If you invest $10,000 at a 7% return for 40 years without adding anything more, it grows to almost $150,000.
- If you invest $10,000 and keep adding $200 per month, it grows to over $500,000.
That’s the magic nobody talks about: boring, daily reinvestment creates extraordinary outcomes.
Why Being “Below Average” Might Actually Be Better
If you feel “below average,” you’re actually free. Being below average is the best!
You’re not trapped by other people’s expectations. You don’t have to play status games or worry about fitting perfectly into some imaginary mold.
When nobody expects you to “win,” you can:
- Take weird risks that others would never dare
- Ignore what’s cool or popular
- Build your life quietly without anyone watching
You get to design your own rules. You get to invest in yourself without the constant pressure to show off or prove anything. You get to stay under the radar while you quietly stack wins.
This freedom—to grow on your own terms, without external pressure—is one of the biggest advantages you can have. You can keep reinvesting into your skills, savings, and experiences without anyone pulling you back into the crowd.
And here’s the hidden bonus: when you’re below average, you’re less likely to blindly comply with norms that don’t make sense. You’re less invested in the approval of broken systems. That makes it easier to step out, to take different paths, and to build something that’s truly yours.
In the long run, freedom beats compliance every single time.
Why Trying New Things Feels So Awkward (And Why You Should Do It Anyway)
Every time you try something new, you’re going to feel awkward, clumsy, and out of place. You will feel behind.
That’s normal.
In fact, that’s the point.
Most people avoid trying new things because they don’t want to look foolish. This hurts them.
If you can push through that discomfort, you unlock massive growth that other people never get. Every new skill, every new habit, every new investment starts ugly.
You will be naturally ugly at everything.
You won’t feel like you know what you’re doing—because you don’t yet.
The real trick is learning to love that awkward feeling. If you feel a little embarrassed, a little confused, a little unsure, it means you’re stretching beyond your current limits. It means you’re investing in your future self. Most people run away when things get hard. You won’t. You’ll keep going, even when it feels messy.
That’s how you quietly build a life that compounds into something incredible.
Why Being “Above Average” Matters Too
If you happen to be “above average” in some skill or opportunity, you have another kind of advantage.
But it’s can hurt you.
A lot. It will happen.
The danger is that you’ll become addicted to praise. You’ll chase applause and external validation, not mastery. You’ll stop reinvesting in yourself because you’re too busy showing off.
The key if you’re above average? Detach from needing external validation.
Use your edge—whether it’s intelligence, charisma, skill—to quietly reinvest in long-term growth.
The goal isn’t to “win” quickly. It’s to last longer than anyone else.
The real victory is endurance, not applause.
What You Should Reinvest In?
Take 10–20% of everything you earn and put it into assets that grow over time.
This means boring things like mutual funds, index funds, and maybe real estate (like a home). It’s not sexy. Nobody will ever see you rolling up in these investments. ha ha. Nobody is going to high-five you for buying an S&P 500 index fund. But over 30, 40, or 50 years, these boring investments will crush anything that’s trendy today.
Growth isn’t flashy — it’s slow and relentless.
Put a chunk into protecting your future.
That means things like basic insurance and emergency savings. It’s not fun to think about bad things happening, but life happens. If you get sick, lose a job, or face an emergency, having protection in place means you don’t lose everything you’ve worked so hard for. Safety nets matter more than you think.
Focus on building stability.
The goal isn’t just growing fast — it’s surviving long enough to see your growth compound. Stability means not living paycheck to paycheck. It means breathing room. It means having options when life gets weird — because it always does.
Avoid gambling and trendy schemes.
No meme stocks. No get-rich-quick crypto dreams. No “next big thing” that promises you overnight wealth. If it feels exciting and dangerous, it’s probably gambling. These are just dumb. Don’t do it.
Over time, gambling always loses.
Think like an Accountant. Be boring like an Accountant. Why are Accountants boring? They know a few things.
Don’t waste your money on dumb assets like expensive cars or toys.
That brand-new truck? It’s not an investment. It’s a status symbol that bleeds value the second you drive it off the lot. As a business professor that knows something about finance, I look at that and think “what a mistake. Sigh. It will be. Trust me.”
Focus your energy on buying things that put money back into your pocket — not drain it away.
Stick to what’s boring and proven.
2. Personal Reinvestment
Take 10-20% of your time and reinvest it in:
- Upgrading Your Skills
- Spending time on courses, certifications, or new skill-building is like planting seeds that grow for the rest of your life. Every new skill you learn—even if it seems boring—stacks with everything you already know. You don’t have to upgrade fast. You just have to keep upgrading steadily. Skills are what make you valuable, even when everything else changes.
- Expanding Your Knowledge
- Reading deeply, exploring weird fields, learning outside your comfort zone—it all builds your “mental wealth.” The more random, useful knowledge you have, the more you start to see opportunities nobody else notices. Exploration gives you edges. And those edges, over time, make you unstoppable.
- Building Better Relationships
- Strong relationships quietly become the biggest asset you’ll ever own. Investing in family, mentors, collaborators, and even old friends compounds massively over time. These are the people who will help you when you’re down, cheer for you when you’re up, and open doors you can’t even see yet.
- Staying Healthy
- Nothing you build matters if your mind and body fall apart. Reinvesting in your mental, emotional, and physical health is the foundation for everything else. Go for walks. Sleep more. Talk it out with someone you trust. Small health investments today prevent massive breakdowns later.
These investments pay off slowly, but massively.
You will be able to live a healthier and happier life.
The Power of Being Weird
When you’re willing to be weird, you unlock an advantage most people never touch. Being weird means you don’t have to play by the rules that keep everyone else stuck. You’re free to build your own game instead of wasting energy trying to win someone else’s.
Weird people are the ones who try things that don’t make sense at first: saving money when everyone else is spending, studying a strange new skill that nobody cares about yet, investing tiny amounts over decades while others are chasing quick wins. Almost every story of real, lasting success is a story about someone who was weird enough to do what nobody else around them was doing — and patient enough to keep doing it.
When you feel like you don’t fit, that’s your signal that you’re onto something. Being weird gives you space to invest in yourself when nobody’s paying attention, to build strength quietly, and to grow into something nobody else saw coming.
Weird isn’t just okay. It’s the strategy.
Ignore the noise. Reinvest. Repeat.
Why It’s So Hard to Do?
The hard part is simple: it takes an absurd amount of patience.
You will:
- Feel invisible
- Look like you’re “behind”
- Wonder if it’s working
- Get laughed at
- Doubt yourself
But every day you ignore the noise, reinvest, and repeat, you are building something unstoppable.
Compound growth is slow—and then sudden.
It’s invisible—until it isn’t.
The Biggest Lesson: Ignore the Noise, Reinvest, Repeat
When in doubt, come back to three simple words:
Ignore the Noise. Reinvest. Repeat.
- Ignore the influencers flashing Lamborghinis.
- Ignore the coworker bragging about a “hot stock tip.”
- Ignore the fear that you’re “falling behind.”
Instead:
- Reinvest 10-20% of your income.
- Reinvest 10-20% of your time.
- Build, build, build.
Over 30, 40, 50 years, your “average” life becomes extraordinary.
Not because you were lucky. Not because you were special.
Because you stayed in the game long enough for the magic to happen.
And when it does, it won’t look like magic.
It will just look like you—quietly doing the right thing, over and over again.
Final Thought
The most powerful advantage you have is not brilliance. It’s not connections. It’s not even hard work.
It’s endurance.
Keep ignoring the noise. Keep reinvesting. Keep repeating.