When Better Than Nothing Actually Isn’t

Is something better than nothing? Sure, in theory, doing a little bit of something is technically better than not doing anything, but the real question should be, “is it enough?”.

The problem with “better than nothing” is that over time it is rarely enough to move the needle far enough in the positive direction to make a lasting impact. We convince ourselves that, “it may not be perfect, but at least it’s better than nothing” and then we get complacent. The harsh reality is that decades of ‘Better Than Nothing’ ends up being next to nothing.

Here’s an analogy: let’s say you want to start saving for retirement. You’re not making a lot of money, but you want to start with something, so you put $10 into savings every week. Is that better than nothing? Certainly, at the end of the year you’ll have put away $520. However, if you continue to just save the bare minimum each week, will it ever amount to enough for you to retire on? If you worked 40 years and continued to save just $10/week you would only have $20,800. Even if you, at some point put all that money into an aggressive IRA account, it will not grow enough to support you in retirement for very long.

You can view your fitness journey through the same lens. If you are just getting started, literally starting from couch potato, and you begin with doing a 10-15 minute walk and then doing 10-15 bicep curls and shoulder presses with 5 lb weights followed by 10-15 partial squats, is that better than nothing? Absolutely, congrats to you for taking the first step. But, is it enough to ensure that you will be able to continue to engage in the activities you enjoy for the rest of your life? Not likely. It’s definitely not if that’s all you continue to do.

In order for that retirement account to actually mature into an investment that can support you during your twilight years, you will have to spend some years putting a significant amount of money away. In order for your body to become strong enough to help you continue doing the activities you enjoy into the last years of your life, you will have to put in the literal blood, sweat and tears it takes to challenge your muscles to grow.

Better than nothing can be the catalyst, but it can’t be the only thing you do.