I came across an illustration that radically shifted the paradigm for me with the realization the end is much nearer than it appears. Chris Martenson, economic researcher and futurist, asks us to imagine we’re in Fenway Park, stadium home of the Boston Red Sox. At noon he handcuffs us to the highest seat in the bleachers, and then with a magic eyedropper he places a single drop of water on the pitcher’s mound far below—a drop that magically doubles in size every minute. If Fenway were water tight, how long do we have to flee that stadium to survive drowning? For minutes we see no appreciable increase in water—one drop becomes two, two drops become four, etc. By 12:44 p.m. there would be just five feet of water in the stadium, still leaving 93% of the stadium empty. But the startling reality is that if we do not extricate ourselves within the next five minutes, our seats in the highest bleacher will be under water at 12:49 p.m. It is the power of compounding, geometric progression. For 44 minutes we think we have all the time in the world—but five minutes later, it’s over! 

- Unknown Author