Such A Simple Concept

A simple idea I have followed for years but have not written about.

I think it was Rothschild that said "compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world." No, this is not a finance entry that should be in Speculation Rules - it's about our businesses, and our lives.

Over at the Bastiat Free University site we try to improve the site a couple of percent a week. That doesn't sound like much - but BFU is a part time project, and 2% or more is achievable. Often it is hard to notice the changes from one week to the next.

Even without compounding, with 52 weeks in a year, that couple of percent means next years college students will be attending a school at least twice as good as this one. The year after that it will once again be twice as good.

Wait a minute.

If today it is a one, next year it will be a two. A double over the following year makes that two a four. In two years BFU will be four times better than it is today, by just improving it a couple of percent a week.

In three years it will be eight times better than today. In four years sixteen times better than today. In five years that small and steady improvement will make Bastiat Free University 32X the BFU of today.

You can apply this anywhere in your life.

Following the BFU example, consider learning 2% more per week than you know today about a particular subject - and then continuing to learn at that speed. At some point your knowledge base will be large enough that it might slow down. If your passion for the subject is what started your learning, your passion will have that much more to feed on.

Your business, your relationships, your attitude -- all of them can benefit from small but steady improvements.


Such a simple concept - and it is truly the eighth wonder of the world.

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