Picture two sets of railroad tracks side by side. The set on the left are the ones you have been riding on for many years. The set on the right is a new set. They look parallel.

In the search of a more prosperous life, we many times need a new set of tracks to ride that will in the long run bring us to a different destination down the road. If we are broke now or close to it, something needs to change. The set of tracks on the right is a new course, a slight change in our direction.

It is easy to think that “when my ship comes in, everything will be better”. Or “when I win the lottery, that will be my retirement”. Yet those things may never happen. It does not take some great event for our lives to change.

In Jeff Olson’s book, The Slight Edge, he talks about the great power of compounding. He explains that compounding is where one thing is added on top of another continuously for months on end.

Say you decided to save $5.00 a day, every day for the next several years – like the price of two cups of coffee or a hamburger at lunch time. It is only a slight amount of money, but it can give you The Slight Edge that you need.

Once you have decided and started to save $5.00 a day, you have moved to the set of railroad tracks on the right.

At first they seem to be running parallel to the old set, but as time goes on they begin to separate. The money is now compounding. $5.00 + $5.00 +$5.00 ….. at the end of the month you now have $150.00. At the end of the year, 365 days times $5.00 = $1,825.00. That is with no interest and no investment.

When the New Year starts, you now have some money in the bank as opposed to last year when you were broke.

After a couple of decades of this type of saving and investing the money, your financial picture will look totally different. And once your mind gets into the saving mode, you can find many other ways to add to the pile.

You can apply this principle of compounding to your walk with God by starting with a verse of scripture memorized each day, or reading a chapter from the Bible each day and thinking about what you learned during the day. After a couple of decades of utilizing this slight edge concept, you will be miles ahead of where you are today in your walk with God.

A couple of decades of “eating an apple a day to keep the doctor away” may have quite an effect on your health. You might add walking for thirty minutes a day as well.

None of these three things are huge changes in your everyday life. But the compounding effects of each over time can be staggering.

So jump to the set of tracks on the right. You will see in time that your life has taken a turn for the better, a turn toward A Prosperous Life.

It is more fun to start a new adventure with someone. Talk to your spouse and see if this is something you could do together.

Write and let us know how this is working for you. What areas of life do you need to see more prosperity in?

Remember our new book, Poverty Vs Wealth, covers many of these things in more detail.

Here’s to you having The Prosperous Life — Roger Braker.