Most people only ever see the leaves. They see the green, full tree in front of them, an investor with a portfolio, a student at a respected university, someone who lost weight, or a person running their own fund or blog. What they rarely see are the roots, the years of deposits, decisions, and compounding that made the leaves possible.
When people look at your results, they assume it happened quickly, or that you’ve always been this way. They don’t realize that behind every “overnight success” are years of small, ordinary actions that no one clapped for.
Compounding Isn’t Magic, It’s Persistence
Warren Buffett once said, “My wealth has come from a combination of living in America, some lucky genes, and compound interest.” That last part, compound interest, is what most people overlook.
Compound interest is usually explained in numbers: how $100 invested today can turn into thousands in 30 years if you leave it alone. But the deeper truth is this: compounding applies to everything in life.
- Every $5 transfer into your investment account.
- Every article published on a blog.
- Every walk you take instead of skipping exercise.
- Every time you choose persistence over perfection.
Each act looks small in isolation. But added up, they become a foundation strong enough to grow leaves, visible results people later mistake as the “whole story.”
The Backstory People Don’t See
For example my achievements register differently to them
- I know my own backstory: the five-dollar deposits, the compounding, the grind.
- They only see the outcome: “student at UW, runs a blog, has an investment fund, lost weight.”
To them, it looks like a finished package. They don’t see the years of daily micro-effort, so what they register is status, not struggle. And that difference can create the feeling of “wow, they’re ahead of me”, even if you feel like you’ve been clawing your way up.
When I tell people I have an investment fund, they hear: “Wow, you must be doing well.”
What they don’t hear is:
- The years of starting with $5 here, $10 there.
- The lump sums from windfalls that I chose to invest instead of spend.
- The small acts of discipline, sometimes exciting, sometimes boring, that compounded into something meaningful.
When I say I have a blog, they hear: “Oh, cool, you’re a international writer.”
What they don’t see is:
- Hundreds of late nights spent writing when no one was reading.
- Small daily posts that eventually built a backlog of hundreds of articles.
- The commitment to publish consistently, even when growth was slow.
- Being up at 2:30 a.m. drafting posts like this one, pushing myself to create when it would be easier to sleep.
They don’t see that the blog they now call global, with traffic from 50+ countries this year alone, once had zero readers. They don’t see me last October, taking a month off after Google de-indexed everything, doubting whether I should keep going. They don’t see the turning point where I realized, “Even if no one ever reads this, I want to write it for myself.”
Now the blog is growing month after month, hitting record highs, but the roots of that growth are the deposits of consistency: coming up with ideas, maintaining a publishing rhythm, and writing while juggling classes.
When people notice weight loss, they see: “Wow, you look different.”
What they don’t know is:
- Years of failed attempts before it stuck.
- The nights I chose not to eat certain foods, and the mornings I dragged myself to the gym.
- The cycle of losing, regaining, and recommitting, over and over.
The truth is, people don’t see the roots. They only see the leaves.
Roots vs. Leaves
Charlie Munger once said, “The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting.” He was talking about investing, but it applies to life.
The roots are the waiting. The patience. The unglamorous, often invisible choices that build the soil beneath you. The leaves are what everyone else notices, your degree, your portfolio, your fund, your fitness, your blog reaching 50 countries.
Here’s the catch: people often buy the appearance of leaves without the roots to support them. They lease the expensive car, rent the trendy apartment, book the lavish trip. On the outside, it looks like abundance. But without roots, cash flow, savings, a strong portfolio, or consistent habits, the leaves wither fast.
Meanwhile, someone who’s been quietly nurturing roots may not look flashy day-to-day. But when the storm comes, job loss, recession, illness, they’re still standing. Because their strength isn’t in appearances, it’s in compounding.
The Small Hits Add Up
Baseball is one of Peter Lynch’s favorite metaphors for investing. He said you don’t need to swing for home runs; you can get rich hitting singles and doubles, over and over.
That’s exactly what compounding is: small hits, repeated consistently.
- $5 invested in VOO on a Tuesday morning.
- $20 tucked into a savings account instead of spent on takeout.
- A 30-minute walk around the block.
- Publishing one more blog post when you’re tired.
On their own, these acts feel tiny, even forgettable. But over the years, they build into a body of work, a body of health, and a body of wealth that looks, to outsiders, like it came out of nowhere.
Why People Confuse Status With Struggle
The world is wired to celebrate leaves, not roots. Social media highlights finished products, not the process. We see the diploma, not the late nights of studying. We see the portfolio balance, not the small auto-deposits. We see the weight loss photo, not the daily decisions behind it. We see a blog in 50 countries, not the 2:30 a.m. writing sessions or the months of zero traffic.
That’s why, when you share your progress, people sometimes give muted praise. “Good luck.” “Good for you.” They aren’t seeing the grind, so they can’t fully connect to the significance of what it took. And sometimes, admiration mixed with comparison makes them hold back.
But that’s okay. The roots aren’t for them to see. They’re for you to grow.
Compounding in Action: A Personal Example
Just last week, I woke up with $5 left over in my checking account. I could have spent it on coffee or a snack. Instead, I transferred it into my investment account and bought a sliver of VOO, the S&P 500 ETF.
It’s not much. But it’s another root. Another single in the game. Another deposit that will grow quietly in the background, stacking with all the other small decisions I’ve made.
And that’s the point: you don’t need to be perfect. You don’t need to drop $5,000 at once. You just need more days where you choose the root over the leaf. Over time, the math takes care of itself.
How to Apply This Yourself
If you want your own roots to grow, here are three simple steps:
- Start Small
Don’t wait until you have a windfall. If you have $5, invest it. If you have 20 minutes, write a blog post or go for a walk. - Stay Consistent
Compounding only works with time. The longer you keep repeating small actions, the more exponential the results. - Ignore the Leaves of Others
Don’t compare your roots to someone else’s leaves. You don’t know what soil they grew in, or whether their tree will last the next storm.
Closing Thought
Buffett, Munger, and Lynch all said it in their own ways: wealth, health, and success are built slowly, through patience and compounding. The outside world will always see status before struggle. But you know the truth: every visible leaf is held up by invisible roots.
Your job isn’t to prove the roots to anyone else. Your job is to keep watering them.
This blog is read in 50+ countries (and counting). If you’re a student, teacher, or lifelong learner from anywhere in the world, I’m honored you’re here. Economics belongs to all of us.
The Broke College Student 
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