“In real life, it is the hare who wins. Every time. Look around you. And in any case it is my contention that Aesop was writing for the tortoise market. Hares have no time to read. They are too busy winning the game.” (Anita Brookner)
Image: Wikimedia Commons
These are crazy times, economically speaking, and unfortunately I don’t really understand what exactly is going on with the US government bailing out insurance providers, Wall Street going down one night and miraculously receiving money and gaining 6 % the next day while big financial institutions roll over and die. Unrelated to all this I have been browsing through Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer’s writings over the last few weeks and have watched their videos on what they call “The Phenomenon”, where Dan talks about how “fast (money / success / profit) is better than slow” and Alexandria Brown makes a guest appearance. Rarely have I felt the two opposing Gemini-voices in me arguing so much than over this statement:
I mean, what about “good things come to those who wait”, and “Rome wasn’t built in a day”? Am I not comforting myself with these very phrases all those times I’m feeling like I should be more …something? Those phrases are particularly helpful when it comes to rationalizing away those ’should’s that add so much spice stress to our lives, right?
What’s so wrong about taking time off to think, letting creative ideas flourish, mulling over and churning out ideas internally before presenting them to the world? Or rather, and this is where my inner argument starts: Aesop’s fable about the turtle and the hare wasn’t about the turtle outrunning the hare, it was all about outsmarting the hare. “The Phenomenon” almost makes it sound as though it’s better to be fast than smart!
Yes, when the destination is “making money”, I don’t want to enjoy the journey, I want to get there, have a drink, and stay at the 5-star hotel. That’s exactly why Dan’s principles do strike a chord. What with my ‘ladder climbing’ upbringing I can’t help but feel anxious about ‘leapfrogging’ though, I mean, what if I leapfrog over an important step now that’ll end up biting me in the behind later? Does that make me a skeptic and a naysayer, one of those people Dan says to avoid if you want to get successful quickly? Probably.
Then again, people will criticize everything they haven’t experienced themselves, so I guess we’ll all just have to make our own decisions. For now, it makes most sense for me to allow some more time for ideas and experience, which is only one of the reasons why I enjoy browsing through J.D. Gates’ blog “get rich slowly”. And when the time comes, I’ll know where to find one of the many fast-track options on offer should I decide to switch tactics. Until then, it’s also great fun to snoop around this guy’s blog on litemind.com and hope that this isn’t actually going to happen any time soon…
Well, what about you, are you more turtle or hare? In case you’re undecided, check out the videos below, and let me know what you think. Til next time!
If you liked this post, please share it:
