…is worth two in the bush.

Or, is it?

My sister told me about something which she had seen on her Facebook feed: a man asks his wife, what would she rather have – a million pounds today or a penny which will double in value over the next 30 days?

This question is based on the fable of the Grain of Rice.

A penny doubling each day for 30 days would give you a grand total of circa £5.37 million pounds, proving that sometimes it is better to wait for what is to come, rather than taking what is immediately available. I pointed out to my sister that this is, of course, dependent on all things being equal, that is, that the bank in which the penny is invested, and which is offering such a great compound interest rate, doesn’t go to the wall before the end of the 30 days, or, indeed, that I don’t come to a sticky end, in which case I would have been better off taking the million on offer and having a blast.

Maybe the moral of this story is about making small incremental gains. Maybe me faffing around experimenting, posting and not committing to producing a piece of work will ultimately reap a greater reward than me bashing something out and being unhappy with it, which could possibly lead to demotivation.

Who knows? All I know is that I really do need to bash something out by next week, but it was an entertaining diversion watching my husband try to work out what interest he could earn on a million pounds in 30 days, and then double check the penny figures!