Hey!

I'm writing this on a plane ride to Austin, where I’ll be for about two weeks. If you’re in the area and would like to hang out, let me know!

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The Marshmellow Test

Credit to the My First Million Podcast for getting me thinking on this topic.

Have you heard about the test with the marshmallow? Most people think of the famous study on delayed gratification where they see if a kid can resist eating a marshmallow for 30 minutes in exchange for two.

Turned out that the kids that were able to wait for the second marshmallow turned out more successful in life based on traditional metrics, etc.

Interesting study, but not the one we’re talking about today.

The one I’m referencing is a study where they challenge different groups to build the tallest tower using sticks that can hold up a marshmallow within a time limit.

Most groups would delegate tasks and try to come up with a plan. Then, with the limited time they had remaining, they start to put the tower together according to plan and inevitably have their tower fall over.

The groups that performed best were the ones that started building as soon as possible. 

Those groups would quickly realize that what they were trying wasn’t going to work and shift to a different strategy. They had time to iterate until they inevitably made the tallest tower.

The takeaway: You’re going to mess up anyways, so it’s best to start now.

Not only are you likely to fail, you might have to.

People always say that we should start teaching kids about money from an earlier age. 

“Someone should’ve explained how taxes work in high school!”

You know what’s nearly impossible? Teaching someone without money how to handle their money.

You can teach best practices all day long, but you can’t impart the feelings and emotions that come with the acquisition and loss of money.

When people start investing for the first time, I usually don’t try to dissuade them when they buy a singular stock of a company that they think is going to pop off in the short term so they can make a quick buck (given that it’s not an unreasonable amount 😳).

That inevitable cycle of emotions they feel as the investment goes up and down is a lesson that can’t be taught. It has to be felt and experienced through action.

Basically, I’m calling myself out.

I’ve heard: 

• “The best time to start was 10 years ago. The second best time is now.”
• “If you’re not embarrassed by your initial product, you waited too long to launch.”
• and many more quotes on the importance of just getting started.

I’ve used almost my entire 20’s to learn. I’ve learned principles and mindsets and frameworks for entrepreneurship.

But I’m acting like the group that starts to put the master plan together and then finds out the marshmallow is a lot heavier than expected with just 5 minutes remaining.

It's time to just start throwing this thing together so I can appreciate my soaring tower in the end.

I am holding myself accountable to getting my first paying customer for the Indian Visa site by the end of the month.

Updates:

• I had a new roommate move in. I had the place cleaned up and put together before he moved in and I’m just enjoying how it looks.

• We started looking at houses for my parents to buy their potential replacement rental property using either a 1031 exchange ore reverse 1031 exchange. I need to write an article to describe the specifics of this super complicated but interesting process.

• Based on some competitor research I did, we’re shifting how we pitch hatchpad to clients and attaching a monetization strategy to it.

• As I mentioned above, I’m in Austin through July so let me know if you’re around. Would love to meet up!

Catch y’all next week.

Cheers,

Aswin

Learn Through Action