POST AUTHOR- TYDS Siddhesh Verlekar
1 % of steady improvement, can take you to great height in long run
Let me tell you a story.
Once upon a time, in India, there was a village. A wealthy monarch ruled over the village. Outside of the village, there stood a temple. A beggar used to sit near the temple and beg. However, the beggar was dissatisfied because he couldn't seem to obtain enough alms to get by. Monks came to the temple one day. The monk was frail and spartan. He only wore one piece of fabric and carried a little drinking container. He did, however, have a dazzling glow on his face. When the beggar saw this monk, he paid him honour and pleaded that he be taken out of his
terrible situation. The monk assured him that he would assist him and that he would increase his wealth. The begging man was overjoyed.
The beggar was then taken to the King's palace by the monk. When it was their turn to go to the King's palace, the monk asked the king if he might arrange daily food for the beggar. However, the monarch said that arranging meals on a regular basis would be difficult because other beggars would expect the same, though he could do so once in a while. The monk then asked the king, calmly, if he might arrange alms in daily increments, as eating once in a while would not satisfy the hunger of the beggar. If the king could only provide a single grain of rice today, the monk continued, he would double it every day after that, i.e. 2 grains tomorrow, 4 grains the next day, and 8 grains on the fourth day. The monarch burst out laughing, unable to comprehend how a few grains of rice could satisfy someone's appetite. However, he agreed to it. The beggar returned to his home after receiving one grain of rice. The beggar inquired of the monk what a few grains of rice would accomplish. The monk laughed and encouraged him to wait a few days before leaving. The beggar was deeply disappointed, believing the monk was hallucinating and toying with him.
The beggar was given 2 grains of rice the next day. He began to cry and stored it in a little pot because only two grains were useful to him.
He was given four grains of rice on the third day. He performed the same thing, just in a different pot.
He received 8 grains on the fourth day. He kept it in the same pot because it was so small.
He received 16 grains on the fifth day. 32 grains on the sixth day. Then it was 64 grains on the seventh day.
All of these were kept in that pot by the beggar, who barely looked at it. He was becoming increasingly dissatisfied as his precarious situation worsened
It was 128 grains on the ninth day. It was 256 on the ninth day. It was 512 on the tenth day. It was 1024 on the eleventh day. It was 2048 on the twelfth day of the year. It was 4096 on the thirteenth day. It was 8192 on the fourteenth day. And he was told that this amounted to nearly 100 grammes of rice.
The beggar did not receive any alms on the fourteenth day. As a result, he decided to examine the pot. He decided that it was sufficient for the day. He received 200gm on the sixteenth day. The beggar discovered that there was a lot of rice and that he wasn't used to eating that much. As a result, he saved it for the next day. He received 400gms the next day. The beggar was taken aback because he had already received enough rice for the day and was now receiving much more. He, on the other hand, kept it in the pot. He received 800gms the next day. Then 1.5 kilos the next day. The following day, it was 3 kg.
Now the beggar realised he didn't have enough pots to store all of the rice. As a result, he decided to sell it. He sold it for a profit and used the proceeds to purchase veggies to go with the rice.
Continuing with the rice grain receiving, the following day he received 6 kilogramme, the following day 12 kg, the following day 24 kg, and the following day 48 kg. When the monarch learned of it, he was taken aback by the fact that so much rice was being sent out. He demanded a comprehensive examination. Nobody, however, could discover any errors in the calculations.
The mandarins tracked down the monk and delivered him to the king. The king inquired about the rice situation. The monk explained that this is the nature of compound growth, in which slow but consistent development can turn a little sum into a large sum. That is also true of us, in terms of our behaviours. If you begin now and continue to improve on a regular basis, you will eventually reach incredible heights. For example, if you want to improve your fitness, starting with ten minutes on day one and increasing one minute every second day, you
will soon find that after a few months you are running practically one hour, which would be extremely difficult to do if you had opted to run one hour on day one. And that will undoubtedly boost your fitness.