In a survey done on high school seniors, 52% believed they would be a millionaire by age 25.

Over half of young adults think they will be millionaires… in the next 8 years!

That’s a fantasy. Why?

Because only 1.1% of the world’s adult population are millionaires.

Even considering just the American population, only 8.8% of American adults are millionaires.

That means at least 42% of those high school seniors won’t ever have $1 million in their bank account, let alone by age 25.

So what separates the 99%, from the 1% that eclipses this million-dollar barrier?

Most who do not reach their goals fail to see that success is not a linear progression.

In a linear progression, your results increase at a steady rate and increase proportional to time and effort.

By this logic, the only reason you are not getting results is because you aren’t working hard enough, for long enough.

As a result, aspiring entrepreneurs will ramp up their work rate, and obsess about working for longer hours, just to see an inkling of results.

Another feature of the linear progression is that results come at the same rate as they always will. The gradient of the line stays the same so even after 2 years, your rate of growth will remain steady.

Because of this, people will use their current results to predict what their results may look like in the future. But when the current results are lackluster — and they often are in the beginning — most people see this as a sign of a failed venture.

This is the biggest reason most people quit their business pursuits, or any other pursuits for that matter.

But all of this is a false reality. A misconception.

Progress is NOT linear. It is exponential. And by accepting this fact, you can get ahead of the 99%.

Whether it be investing, business, sports, or education, all of them are subject to the law of compounding returns.

Just like an exponential graph, everybody’s journey begins with a long, flat line. During this period, your time and energy investment may continue to increase, yet your results remain stagnant.

Everybody experiences this point, and most never get out of it. It is ruthless because it can destroy ambition before you’ve even had a chance to show what you’re capable of.

Most people think that the cost of progress is hard work. That’s true, but only later in your journey.

The real test that determines whether you deserve success or not, is if you can keep working hard, even when you have no results to show for it.

This holds true for entrepreneurship, the gym, or becoming an elite athlete. They all require months, sometimes even years of work before any results are visible.

Most people never pass this test because they invest so much time and effort, just to see little or no results. In fairness to them, quitting seems like a logical conclusion based on past results.

The mistake, however, is thinking that it will stay like this forever — that past results are indicative of future growth.

They blame the business model for not being the right one, or they blame the workout routine for not working when most of the time, they simply did not carry on for long enough.

After putting enough time, effort, and understanding into any venture, you will notice that results seem to be coming at a much faster pace.

Your sales climb, your strength grows and you begin to surpass your competition.

You’ve just hit the inflection point on your exponential curve.

From here you will progress at a rate you could never have imagined, and you can be propelled into the top 1% almost overnight.

Most of the time, what seems to us like overnight success, is just the compounding nature of success finally working its magic.

The reason this happens is that as you spend more time and gain more knowledge, all of it stacks on top of your previous efforts and compounds to astronomical heights.

It is similar to how investing works.

Warren Buffet made 90% of all his wealth after his 65th birthday, and 99% of all his wealth was made after his 50th birthday.

In the last 40 years, Buffet’s net worth increased by 100x, simply because his wealth compounded on itself, year by year.

This is the one thing that separates the successful from the average. Those who have the patience and discipline to keep developing their craft, even amid mediocre results, will find the grass much greener on the other side.

If you aren’t seeing results, you are still being tested.

Keep working hard.