Investing Is A Marathon; Not A Sprint

Life is a marathon and not a sprint. It tells us that life itself is a long journey that needs to be paced lest we crash and burn. The same is true for investing. Slow and steady wins the race.

The phrase “marathon and not a sprint” is one that we have used to explain different life situations. A marathon is a long journey that requires timing, when to slow down or when to pick up.

It requires precision, accuracy, process, and a lot of experience which can be garnered on the journey itself. While a sprint is a short and fast race, a marathon is a build-up that eventually unveils a long awaited success.

Life is a marathon and not a sprint. It tells us that life itself is a long journey that needs to be paced lest we crash and burn. The same is true for investing. Slow and steady wins the race.

With every investment you make, you’re starting a long journey. Just as you’ll crash and burn before you get to the destination if you try to sprint fast on a marathon track, the moment you try to rush through the investment game, you’ll most likely fail.

Many investors have ruined years of investing because they got on a trajectory that sent them looking for the next hot investment. Here are some of the things moving at a slow and steady pace does for you:

You Don’t Burn Out

Slow and steady investing is indeed a sacrifice but it is one that almost always pays off. For starts, you are trading the opportunity or possibility of making a major investment win with the assurance of never losing everything at the same time.

The sacrifice here is the potential “life-changing” profit that many fail into. Rather than take chances that might leave you at the bottom of the ditch, you’re carefully growing into that level of wealth.

Precision Over Anything

The commonest story of this concept is the story of the tortoise and the hare. The tortoise set off on his journey to win and he did so regardless of his competition.

In the stock market, we can use this to show him moving slowly regardless of noise in the market or tales of shortcuts or even a change in direction. Just like the tortoise, it is always better to focus on precision - over speed, over the noise of short term volatility, over speculation, over fear and so on.

The goal doesn’t change and unless something fundamental happens along the way like a complete road closure, we need to soldier on without restrain.

Gives Room For Balance

Slow and steady doesn’t mean you should always choose low risk over high gains. There’s a difference between taking your time and wasting your time and it is for this reason that we build portfolios while investing.

This gives us room for balance. It allows us experience different aspects of the journey without ever completely halting. With a balanced investment portfolio, you create a basket of investments - each with its own offering.

Managing different elements along the journey is what creates the right balance. It is saying that while others might fail to one side or the other, you will experience a balanced growth process.

With all of the noise in the investment world, it might be hard to maintain a slow and steady pace. This is where discipline in investing comes in. Learn all you need to, but don’t rush the process.