Back in my teaching days, I used to do an interesting warm-up when we reached the topic of compound interest. I’d start class with a question that I’ll now pose to you:

Would you rather have a million dollars right now or a penny that doubles every day for 30 days?

At first glance, it seems like a ridiculous question. Who in their right mind would choose to start with a single penny instead of taking a million dollars immediately?

The point of the exercise is to illustrate the power of compound interest. Because here’s the truth: if you choose the penny that doubles each day, by day 30, you’ll have over five million dollars.

That alone is fascinating—but to me, the more interesting part is how the money grows as it doubles. Let me show you a chart so you can see the progression for yourself:

Look at how long it takes to actually start seeing real money. By the halfway point, you only have $163.84 to your name. The real gains don’t start happening until around day 20. And even then, it’s not “crazy money.” You don’t hit the million-dollar mark until day 28, but once you do, the real power of compounding sends your money into the stratosphere.

What if I told you that the gains you make in anything you do in life happen the same way?

My Years-Long Battle With Back Pain

Sometime in early 2017, I was playing basketball with my nephew. He wanted me to go hard on him (and the little shit almost beat me lol). It was one of those moments where I injured myself without realizing it. Know what I mean?

The next day, I woke up with such intense back pain and stiffness that I could barely move. Now, this had happened to me a few times before. You twist your back the wrong way, take a day or two off work, rest, and eventually it goes away.

But this time was different.

Not only did the pain not go away, it actually started moving down my leg. The original stiffness mostly subsided, but there was this low-level ache in my lower back that just wouldn’t leave. Then, when I sat in my car, stabbing pains would shoot down my leg. Those were the worst.

If you’ve ever dealt with that, you know I’m talking about sciatica. I went to the doctor, and that was the diagnosis. They sent me to physical therapy, where I learned some stretches that helped me manage it.

Here’s the thing: if I did the stretches, the sciatica would go away but the low-level back pain wouldn’t. And if I stopped doing the stretches, the sciatica came right back. There were a couple of years where I was absolutely miserable and desperate, convinced that my back pain was never going away.

But honestly, I wasn’t doing myself any favors. I’d only do the stretches for a couple of weeks, then I’d quit. Eventually, I resigned myself to the idea that this was just who I was now: the guy with the bad back. My fate, I thought, was to do stretches now and then just to keep the sciatica at bay.

Then the back cramps started, and that was a pain I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

I found a routine that helped manage it. I’d do hamstring stretches, use a tennis ball against the wall to push into my back and hips, and lay on a heating pad for 15 minutes. That helped minimize the pain but never truly made it go away.

In 2022, I got so frustrated I did something I swore I’d never do: I went to a chiropractor. I always thought chiropractors were quacks, but I was desperate. And after about four sessions, I was actually feeling pretty good. The back pain mostly disappeared.

For a little while.

I spent another year dealing with pain before I finally discovered the amazing book Built From Broken by Scott Hogan, and the absolute king of back pain science himself, Dr. Stuart McGill.

Motion Is Lotion

During Christmas break of 2023, I made a decision: I was going to do whatever it took to fix my back pain for good. I committed to reading, watching YouTube videos, and learning everything I could about how to heal.

I started doing stretches every day. I added in what I learned from McGill, especially the famous McGill Big Three exercises. Not only did I stretch, I began working to strengthen my core and stabilize my spine. And I told myself I’d do it every day—or at least most days—for the rest of my life if I had to.

And it mostly worked.

But then I injured myself again, this time after helping my dad plant potatoes. My back stiffened so badly I could barely walk.

It was frustrating beyond words. I had been doing stretches and core work for eight months, and I still ended up back at square one. I almost gave up.

But then I stumbled onto something: the psoas muscle. I learned how releasing that muscle can help with back pain. And after nine months of frustration, I discovered—almost by accident—that my back pain wasn’t a back problem at all. It was a hip mobility issue.

Oh, sweet, beautiful hip mobility.

If you have back pain, I can’t stress this enough: look into hip mobility exercises and stretches. They will absolutely change your life. When I added in psoas release stretches, frog pose, and pigeon pose, my back pain completely disappeared.

It still pops up from time to time, but it’s usually when I’ve pushed a workout too hard.

What I’ve come to realize, a year and a half later, is that the real injury is in my left hip. I can feel it clearly during my mobility work. What used to be back pain is now just tightness in my hip as I undo a lifetime of sitting on my ass.

The Exponential Nature of Growth

Through all of this, the biggest thing I’ve learned is that growth is slow. It doesn’t happen overnight.

I’m learning that especially through my running. A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my 34-minute 5K. Today, I managed to cut that time to 31 minutes—and I ran my first sub-10-minute mile in decades.

How long did it take me to get here?

I decided I wanted to run a sub-30-minute 5K about three years ago. The first time I stepped on a treadmill to try, my best time was around 50 minutes. The road has been long and slow.

It took me two years to go from 50 minutes to 39 minutes. But here’s the most interesting part: I cut my time from 39 to 31 minutes in just six months.

Now I’m starting to see that “penny doubling” effect kick in.

How many times did I get on the treadmill, see pitiful gains, and feel like I was never going to be a runner? And yet, in just two weeks, I shaved off three minutes from my time.

Trust the Process

My point is this: big gains don’t happen overnight. Healing doesn’t happen overnight. Whether you’re working to heal chronic pain or improve in the gym, the process is long, grueling, and slow.

Which is why so few people stick with it.

But I’m here to tell you: trust the process. Believe that the work you put in today will pay off down the road. It may take you years to get where you want to be, but it’s worth the climb.

I’m so glad I stuck with my pursuit to fix my back pain. And I’m so glad the work I’ve put in on the treadmill is finally paying off.

That’s the power of exponential growth.

The mile you walk today is building the cardio that will let you run tomorrow’s 5K. Start at the beginning, and trust the process. When you get frustrated or feel like it’s taking forever, remember the penny experiment.

Big gains take time.

So get back out there and do it again. Your future self will thank you.