Banjo Smyth

Last weekend I was lucky enough spend 4 days with Tony Robbins - what an amazing experience. I traveled up to Sydney to attend his Unleash the Power Within Seminar and it was well worth the trip. This was the first time I had seen Anthony and it was amazing to see one of the most influential educators of our time in person. There was more energy in the Sydney Entertainment Center than any rock concert I have been to. One of the best parts of the weekend was simply to be surrounded by thousands of people who have a similar mindset to me.

After coming home from Sydney I Was lucky enough to get a ticket to the AFL grand final and see my team (The Hawks) win their first premiership in nearly 20 years. 100,012 people crammed into the MCG even gave the Tony Robbins crowd a run for their money. As much as I love football I do find it kind of odd that thousands of people get more excited about 22 young men kicking a ball around the park than they do their own lives. Mmm slightly strange.

Less than two weeks to go to the marathon. Last week my knees were very sore so I have decided to keep my running to a minimum and do most of my training on the bike. The last few weeks are simply tapering so I should be fine for the big day. Sorry about the lack of Investment news but it will be coming soon I promise!

You are probably asking what does running a marathon have to do with Investment Strategies & Wealth Creation? For most people the answer would be NOTHING but for me the answer is EVERYTHING.

11 months ago I decided to fulfill a lifetime dream and complete a marathon. I have always been an active person and generally go for a couple of 4-6km jogs a week - a long way off the somewhat ridiculous figure of 42km that the marathon is. I see the marathon as the ultimate physical test, something that will push you into areas and feelings that you have never experienced before.

This is where I see the similarities to Investing and Wealth Creation. When you are beginning your journey towards financial freedom you are faced with ideas and concepts that are totally foreign to you. Dealing with the Stock Market, buying Real Estate to rent out and going into debt to create wealth are all concepts that are incredibly scary to someone that hasn’t experienced then before. Just like with the marathon these foreign ideas force you to choice one of two things. . . .

When your legs start hurting or you mind is getting confused you can either

Give up and stop running or stop learning about Investing

Or

You can keep going despite the fact that you feel completely spent, exhausted, confused and angry.

There is nothing better than going on a long run and getting to the point where you feel like you have to stop but you somehow manage to persuade yourself to keep going and finish. In that moment you have conquered the part of your brain that says “I can’t do it”. You have learnt that if you push through the pain barrier or that overwhelming feeling you get when learning about investing – you will succeed.

So after 11 months of training I am now only 4 weeks away from the Melbourne Marathon. 3 months ago I completed a half marathon (1:41:30) - 3 ½ minutes faster than my goal time. Since then I have slowly been building my long runs up and last weekend I completed a 35kn run in 3:15:00. My main goal for the marathon is to finish but I would love to do it in less than 4 hours. 4 weeks to go and I will let you know how I went.

When I tell people that I am doing a marathon they all tell me I’m completely crazy. To be honest I agree with them and that is the beauty of doing such a silly thing like running a marathon. It is such a long way to run that if I can finish it, surely I can do whatever I set my mind to?