In the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams” Ray Kinsella hears a voice whisper telling him “If you build it, he will come.”  As the story continues, the voice once again urges Ray to “go the distance.”  This serves as a fitting metaphor for the attainment of personal and professional success.  In the sport of baseball, going the distance is the term used to describe a pitcher who plays for all nine innings of the game.  In boxing, it refers to a fighter who continues for all of the rounds.  In the context of success, it is an appropriate term to describe somebody with the persistence to keep working for their goals until they are achieved.

The importance of going the distance is illustrated in many endeavors where it is easy to quit when signs of difficulty emerge.  When attending college, it is easy to walk away when your desired results are not achieved in a class.  When working in a job, it is easy to quit when things get difficult and seek more desirable circumstances.  When building a business, it is easy to become downtrodden by growth and cash flows that do not meet your expectations.  When investing for the future, it is exceptionally easy to allow disruptions such as tenant evictions or market corrections to derail your strategy.

However, in each of these cases it is critically important to “go the distance” and see your goals through to completion.  In the beginning, this must be done completely on faith.  The reason for this is because most worthy goals do not materialize immediately.  Achieving them requires the patience and maturity to visualize future success and make sacrifices so that it can be achieved.  This stands in direct contrast to the juvenile immaturity of popular culture that worships immediate gratification.

There is a simple, but profound way to measure your progress on the road of success.  By engaging in daily self reflection where you honestly assess whether you have done everything possible to create your vision of success in that day.  (Each person should have their own unique vision of success that guides this analysis)  If the self assessment is done honestly, it should regularly reveal actions and decisions that can be made differently in the future.  Over time, this will create a cycle of continuous self-improvement.

Once the result of your efforts begin to become apparent, it will build a series of success that compounds upon success.  The important part for most people is reaching this point where their achievements become visible and tangible.  This provides inspiration for future efforts and victories.  Most people never reach this point of vision, because they quit before any of their efforts produce results.  By a simple failure to “go the distance” it can trigger a lifetime of failure and disappointment.  By seeking the easy way out, it can create a downward spiral of wasted opportunity that is never regained.  Each person must make their own choices.  The question to ask yourself is whether you are willing to pay the price of success through persistent effort?

Fiscal Food For Thought

The current economic difficulties in Greece and Portugal have brought some very important realizations to bear.  The most pronounced is that nations (just like people) cannot spend more than they produce indefinitely.  As debt and deficits mount, there is a tremendous temptation to inflate the currency as a way of financing the deficits.  As confidence in the fiscal health of a nation wanes, the interest rate required on its debt will increase.  For countries that are members of an economic union, their membership could be placed in jeopardy.  Ultimately, what happens is that tremendous reductions in government spending must necessarily occur.  The reason for this is because taxes cannot be raised indefinitely without pushing out a critical mass of productive economic activity that plunges the nation into a perpetual downward spiral of recession.

The way that such profligate and irresponsible spending becomes commonplace for a government is when the political authorities use public resources to influence votes that keep them in power.  This create an ever increasing desire for more public spending so that the government officials can stay in power.  Furthermore, many corporations quickly learn that there are great rewards available if they successfully lobby the government to provide bailouts, favorable loans, or regulations that protect them from competition.  In some cases, businesses discover that they can reap greater rewards from lobbying the government than by engaging in normal business activities.  However, what happens if too many businesses attempt to support their livelihood through favors from the government?