5 Lessons Marathon Runners Teach Us About Investing
Oct 13th, 2009 by Carlos
OK, honestly? I’ve never run a marathon—but I am in training for the Urbanathlon (an eleven mile race with obstacles mixed in). And that means going on long runs that, most of the time, aren’t fun.
But running long distances has some unintended benefits—you learn a lot of things you can apply to totally unrelated parts of your life.
Don’t Stop
You’re going to want to stop—trust me. Because every part of your body hurts and you start asking yourself questions like “Why am I doing this?” But you have to keep going because once you stop, the odds of starting back up again are pretty low. And if you stop a bunch of times you’ll never finish.
Investing works the same way—that’s why making it automatic is so important. Make it so it happens without you even noticing it—that way it’ll make it harder for you to stop. Which you’ll want to because you want to buy a house, a new TV, etc. But don’t stop—just put your head down and keep on running.
Focus on What’s In Front of You
You’re going to be out there for a long time. A LONG time—and that can be pretty overwhelming. I know I’m in trouble when I’m five minutes into a run and I’m already thinking about heading back. That will make the run feel even longer. So I focus on the pavement in front of me and try to put all thoughts of the finish line out of my head—music helps.
What’s your ultimate investing goal? For me, it’s retirement—and that’s not going to happen any time soon. But saving all this money and telling myself that it’ll be worth it when I’m old and wrinkly is sort of depressing. So I just save the money, invest it as I see fit, and go about my life. And yes—music helps here too. This is why it helps to set goals along the way—they can give you a real sense of progress.
Don’t Forget it’s a Marathon
Just don’t forget you have a long ways to go. Focusing only on that sliver of pavement ahead of you can be dangerous because you might run out of gas before you finish the race. You have to pace yourself and leave enough in the tank so you’re in good shape to cross the finish line. I get a little excited sometimes when a great jam comes on and start going really fast. Then I get gassed and finish in pain.
Don’t get all excited about this and decide you’re going to save $3,000 this month to kick start your investing fund—these types of one-offs are unsustainable. Just like you can’t sprint through a marathon, you’ll never be able to “pump yourself up” with enough energy to pull this kind of stuff off. No way. You need to set a good, reasonable pace and stick to it.
Try Not to Compare Yourself to Others
When you’re out there training, you’ll see other runners blow by you and you’ll think to yourself, “I suck.” But you don’t know if they just got started, if they’re only running a couple of miles, or if they just robbed a bank. So comparing yourself to those around you is only going to get you in trouble—only you know your pace.
Someone will always save more than you, invest better than you, and wind up with more money than you. Maybe they had a trust fund, maybe they got lucky, or maybe they robbed a bank. You never know—so don’t try to figure it out. It’ll just drive you crazy.
Break Through the Pain
If I’m running 8–10 miles, I’ll usually hit a wall around mile 3. My body feels like it’s done and can’t go any further, and I start thinking that maybe something is wrong. How am I supposed to run for another five miles? But you push through that wall and find a well of endurance on the other side. It’s weird, but the sooner you get that out of the way, the smoother the run will go.
Starting is the tough part—we all know that. But stick with it long enough and you’ll see that it only gets easier and easier. Sure, the stock market might collapse again and you’ll lose a lot of your hard-earned money, but that’s just a part of investing.
If that happens, you can always go out and rob a bank.
For more on running and money, check out The Steve Prefontaine Guide to Getting Rich and Three Things Running Can Teach Us About Personal Finance.
Sweet image by Duncan Rawlinson
[...] Ever ran a marathon? They are long, tiring and boring often you just want to stop because you don’t see the point in continuing, ever feel like that about your personal finances? Writers Coin shares five lessons a marathon runners teaches us about finances. [...]
Great post! I run half-marathons myself (I’ll probably run a marathon next year), and one tip I’d like to add is to at least try to enjoy the journey. It’s so easy to focus so much on the goal that we forget to have fun along the way. Thank the people who help you, smile, take in the scenery, and be thankful that you have a body and a mind that can go the distance. I usually run without music on nature trails, which helps me focus and get into the “zone.” It’s very meditative and relaxing.
Nut,
Interesting read. I like sports analogies because most people can really relate to them. The marathon analogy is very good for representing what most people’s paradigm is for investing and what I used to think of investing myself. That investing that is painful and should be endured. Being a former collegiate decathlete, investing is not painful and/or shouldn’t be painful. Marathon runners, triathletes and decathletes go through all the things that you mentioned and I do agree with you from my own experience with athletics and investing is that starting out is the toughest part. But with the proper education and a coach who has already acheived what you want, the rest is gold. You just supply the determination, the elbow grease, and follow the leadership of a good mentor.
What rings true with investing and athletics is you need to study and find out which is the most effective way to train/invest and what did the successful athletes/investors do? Now whenever you say investor that doesn’t mean someone who invests solely in stocks. Stocks can be a very good form of investment with the exception of IRAs, 401ks, etc but it’s not the only investment out there. Real Estate is a very good cashflowing investment also that a vast majority of millionaires and billionaires have their fortunes located but do your homework and see which form(s) of investing is most effective for acheiving your goals. Maybe it’s stocks. Maybe it’s real estate. Maybe it’s a business franchise that runs itself. I personally have my investments in cashflowing real estate but talk to those who are true experts who actually do what they tell you and recognize what’s a sales pitch and what actually makes sense after you’ve done your due delingence. First off, losing money is NEVER good in investing. Never lose money is rule #1! Rule #2 is please refer back to #1. Secondly, 5 years is about as longterm as you should get for investing. If you’re not capable of retiring in 5 years then what you’re doing is not effective. The Olympics/marathon 30 to 40 years from now doesn’t have to be and shouldn’t be your end all be all goal. You can run that marathon and participate in the Olympics each and every month and have it just get better and better each time. Experience the fruits of your labor sooner than later. You said have small term goals in between the ultimate longterm goal and that’s absolutely right. Go for investments that you not only don’t lose money on but also pay you each and every month. Money that goes into your bank account and your pocket every month.
Thatnks for sharing your experience and letting me share mine.
Bryan