A Magic Penny or One Million Bucks: Lessons On Patience, Compound Effect, And Staying In The Game

How you look at life, how you think about things.

You want it now, or give it a little bit of time and let it get even bigger, even better.

Welcome to Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

I'm your host, Kevin Lowe, and I'm excited to welcome you inside.

This is the kind of place where your glass will never be anything other than half full because we choose to focus on the positive side of life.

Now, this doesn't mean that we shy away from the real talk.

No, not a chance.

Matter of fact, we explore all aspects of life.

From the good, the bad, and the ugly.

But all of that is done with one purpose.

One purpose.

To inspire you to never give up on life.

Even when it may seem like life has given up on you.

Now I get it, life is hard.

But starting today, you've got grit, grace, and inspiration.

What's going on, and how are you today?

Welcome back to Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

My name is Kevin Lowe, your host, and uh hey, I'm glad to have you here.

Today is episode 160, and well, today we're talking about the magic penny.

So here's the truth of the matter.

Sometimes in life, we decide to give something a try.

We go out on a limb, we take a chance, and a lot of times the chance that we take it doesn't turn out quite the way we thought it was going to.

Things don't progress quite as fast as we thought or we wanted.

And we get discouraged.

We start beating ourselves up.

We start questioning if we made the right decision or not.

If that's you, well, welcome to the club.

Because I know all about that.

I think all of us do at some point in time in our life.

But the reason I bring that up is because today's episode, well, maybe this episode is for you.

I'm part of a small group coaching program.

And in one of our recent sessions, the topic got brought up about the magic penny.

Now, I'm pretty sure that I've heard this scenario laid out before, probably in school, but never really paid it much mind.

But inside of our small group coaching program, it really made me think more about the story and the meaning behind it.

If you're not familiar with the magic penny, well, let me entertain your curiosity for a moment.

If I gave you the choice, you can either have$1 million cash or this single magic penny that's going to double in value each day over the next month.

Without taking the time to think deep about it, which would you choose?

A million bucks cash or this magic penny that I'm telling you about?

Well, for most people, they'd say, Sucker, you take your magic penny and head on down the street.

I'm taking the million cash.

I got a yacht to buy.

Well, that's sweet.

And hey, total respect to that decision.

But those who chose to take the magic penny, well, that's who really won.

Because by month's end, that magic penny, by doubling in value every day, would be worth over$10 million.

Now, besides for this being a fun little story to tell, game to play, I actually believe the meaning behind the magic penny is far deeper and more meaningful and more significant to our lives than you may think.

And that's exactly what we are exploring inside of today's episode.

Now, no matter which option you choose, the million dollars cash or the magic penny that doubles in value over the next 31 days to give you over 10 million dollars.

Either way you look at it, the best investment you can make with whichever option you choose is to get yourself a coach.

Yes, that is a shameless plug inviting you to get off of the sidelines and into the studio with me, not as a guest, not as an interview, but literally for you to sit down with me as your coach and let's map out your life roadmap.

And in this topic, let's map out your roadmap for the next year on how you're going to make that million dollars or what you're gonna do with the over$10 million that the magic penny earns you.

So head on over to workwithkevin.coach.

That is workwithkevin.coach and sign up today for your free life roadmap planning session where me and you can get this all figured out together.

So we're talking about the magic penny.

I've told you the story, I've given you the two options, but I told you that it's more than just a story, that I feel there's some really important life lessons to be learned from this story.

And the first lesson is that I believe it's showing us that the best things in life, they take time.

Now, I don't consider myself to be the most patient fella in the crowd.

And so this doesn't really like sit well with me.

I mean, why does everything good have to take so long?

I don't know.

That's just life, apparently.

Because think about it.

When you're at grandma's house and she puts on a pot of soup in the morning, no, you're not eating that for lunch because it's not going to be good by lunch.

It's got to sit and simmer on the stovetop, and you can have it for dinner.

Because with time, that soup gets better.

Same thing with a fine bottle of wine.

You know that wine has to age.

It has to sit down in the wine cellar, relaxing, chilling out, letting all of its little flavors combine, get all vibrant with flavor.

And that's how the beautiful flavor of wine comes to be.

Now, the truth of the matter is, is that in our two little examples I've just given us on illustrating how the good things take time, you could eat grandma's soup for lunch that day, and it would do the trick.

It would fill you up and it would taste good, ultimately serving its purpose.

Just like that fine bottle of wine, it could be open before it's actually ready.

And chances are you and your friends would have a great time enjoying that bottle of wine and not think anything of it.

But with a little bit of patience and an understanding that the best things in life, they take time, you can sit down for dinner and have the most amazing bowl of soup you've ever had before, making you realize, wow, grandma was right.

The soup did need to simmer a little longer.

And yes, even though you and your friends had a wonderful time celebrating with that prematurely opened bottle of wine, now that you've had a new bottle that's been aged appropriately, you realize what you guys were missing.

And that's because the best things in life, they take time.

Yeah, you could take the million dollars today and go have fun.

Or if you give it a little bit of time, 31 days, in fact, a month, you can have over 10 million dollars.

Think of how you can apply that to life, how you look at life, how you think about things.

You want it now, or give it a little bit of time and let it get even bigger, even better.

Another lesson in life that I took away from this story that I want to share with you is that with time comes the compounding effect of force.

A single penny, it's not worth much.

So on day one, you're gonna look at that single penny in your hand and think, what have I done?

And by day two, when it turns to two pennies, or day three, when it turns to four, it's not gonna seem like much.

But if you give it some time, all of a sudden that force is gonna build and build and build until all of a sudden those pennies turn to dollars, those dollars turned to bags of cash, and you are looking at the fool who chose the million dollars, like, ha ha ha, sucker.

So, what I'm telling you is is that by giving it time, tip one, realize this that as you keep progressing each day in your life with whatever your endeavor is, each day you're getting a little bit better.

You're making monumental improvements.

And those little seemingly insignificant improvements are actually building upon each other.

And it may start out slow and it may seem like you're not progressing at all.

But just wait and keep with it.

Because with that continued action each and every day, the force behind you is going to be literally unstoppable.

Now that ties in perfectly with my third and final life lesson from the Magic Penny story.

And this is by far the most important.

And well, naturally, that's why I saved it till the end.

You got to stay in the game.

You got to keep showing up every day.

Right now is not a time to give up.

You need to keep putting in the reps, doing what you got to do with whatever you got going on in life.

Whether that's your job, whether that's your relationship, whether that's a side hustle, whether that's a new business you've started that's not blowing up like you thought it would.

You got to keep showing up, keep putting in those reps, keep building on that momentum.

Because when we look back at the story of the magic penny, by looking at it from our perspective now, we know how the story ends.

So it's easy to make the decision now.

And of course, all of us would choose the magic penny.

But what if we didn't know how the story was going to end?

Because what if we chose the million dollars instead?

What if, as I said, we didn't know.

We didn't know if the magic penny could really be trusted.

We knew that we could have a certainty of a million dollars, or we had to put our trust in something, in the unknown.

Now there is something worse that could happen.

What if we did choose the magic penning because we believed in it?

We thought it was going to be something great.

And week after week, we were disappointed.

We were let down, we were frustrated because nothing was happening.

Meanwhile, the one person, they chose the million dollars and they're living their best life.

And you, you're stuck with a few dollars to your name.

Because that single penny, yeah, it keeps doubling in value, but what's that worth when you have hardly any money to show for it?

And at that point, you think to yourself, why am I even doing this?

Why am I even trying?

I'm tired of dealing with this stupid magic penny that's not getting me anywhere.

And so you throw that penny away and you move on with life.

Well, here's the trick is that, yeah, up through day 27 of that month, you made the wrong decision.

You did screw up.

You're right.

You're right.

The other choice had you more money.

So you go ahead and you give up, you throw in the towel, you say forget about it.

But if you would have just kept trying, if you would have kept the hope alive, keep digging deep, keep showing up, you would have realized that on day 28, everything would have changed.

Because on day 28, that penny has doubled in value where it surpassed a million dollars.

And the next few days, as we round our way to day 31, it's gonna get real big real fast.

By the end of the month, day 31, you're gonna be up at over$10 million.

That's why I told you, you can't stop now.

You can't stop pushing forward in whatever it is in life, whatever your magic penny is that you're working with, you better keep working.

I'm telling you, right now is not time for you to throw in the towel.

Because what if tomorrow is the breakthrough?

What if tomorrow is day 28?

That's what we're dealing with.

That's what we're talking about.

That is the power in this story, is the reminder that it may seem like days one through 27 meant nothing.

But in fact, they did mean something.

Because those days were building your momentum.

You kept showing up.

So, in terms of the magic penny, its value kept increasing and increasing.

In terms of what you're doing, you're getting better, you're getting stronger, you're building more relationships, you're getting better at your craft.

Whatever it is that you're doing, you're getting bigger and better and building momentum.

And all of a sudden, you're going to crest the peak, you're going to see the summit of the mountain, and you're going to realize wow, this is what I've been fighting for.

Now, what's difficult about real life, as opposed to the magic penny, is that we have no idea when day 28 is going to be.

And that is why it's so important for us to stay the course, for us to keep digging deep, to keep trying, to keep showing up every day.

Day 28, it may be tomorrow, it may be a week from now, it may be five years from now.

But if we don't keep pursuing our dreams, our passion, well, then we never will have the opportunity to reach our own day 28.

Now, if you're curious how the whole magic penny story shakes down, well, let me further fill in the gap so you understand how this all just shook down.

If you were the person who did pass on the million dollars and instead chose the magic penny, this is what your journey would look like.

At first, week one is going to kick your butt because you are going to be kicking your butt for making such a stupid decision.

Because at day seven, you're only going to have 64 cents to your name.

Now, week two, it's not going to be much better.

By week two, you're starting to say bad things about yourself.

You're starting to regret your entire existence.

Because why could you have made such a stupid decision?

Because that's at day 14, and you're only up to just under$82.

I think it is exactly$81.92.

Now, week number three, you might be starting to gain a little bit of hope, thinking, okay, something big's gotta happen this week.

Well, not so lucky.

So don't get your hopes up too much.

Because while your friend over there who chose the million bucks is uh living it up with champagne and caviar on the uh yacht that he just bought.

Well, at week three, you're at $10,485.

Now, yeah, I mean$10,000 is nice, but it's certainly no million bucks in your pocket.

But then we start moving forward because day 28 arrives.

And now is when we can finally flip the coin, flip the magic penny, and realize: hey, baby, this penny is magical.

Because at day 28, you are now at over$1 million.

Now, of course, day 28 was just the start of the fun.

Because by months in, day 31, and you're gonna be at over$10 million, closing in on$11 million.

Whoa, baby, I call that penny magical indeed.

So now here's the ticket.

Remember, the magic penny, it's your journey.

So treat your journey like that magic penny and don't give up on it.

I want you to keep moving forward, let it build momentum, and keep focused on knowing that your day 28 is soon to arrive.

And with that is my life lessons for you to take from a silly little game, a fun little story to tell about a magic penny on whether or not it is more valuable than a million bucks.

Hey, my name is Kevin Lowe, the host of this podcast.

Hope you've enjoyed the episode today.

Don't forget, take me up on that offer for you to sign up for my life roadmap planning session, where we can figure out what you're gonna do with this million dollars plus over the next year.

So just head on over to workwithkevin.coach to sign up for your free life roadmap planning session today.

And with that, hey, get out there and enjoy the day.

And uh, if you find that magic penny, you'd be sure to let me know.

Hey, real quick before you go, I have one last thought to leave you with.

I of course hope that you've enjoyed today's episode, but more importantly, I want to remind you that I never want you to listen to an episode of this podcast to hear something that I have to say or that my guest has to share, and think, wow, I wish I could be like them.

I wish I could overcome my own challenges and do the great things that they are doing, but I just can't.

Well, friend, that's where you're wrong.

unknown: You're wrong.

SPEAKER_00: You are capable, you are able, and you darn sure are deserving of having all that you can imagine in this life.

There's nothing special about me or any guests I have on this podcast.

We are all just normal people trying to make it in this life.

And so I encourage you to take a look at yourself in the mirror and remind yourself that you know what?

I can do it too.

Now, of course, if you would like help along that way, reach out to me.

Whether that's as a listener of this podcast, a friend, or if you'd like to work with me as a coach.

My contact information is inside of every episode's show notes, just like this one.

So go down, check out my contact information, and reach out to me today.

With that said, I encourage you to take on the day every day with great, grace, and inspiration.