However Long It Takes

Sean McLaughlin
May 30, 2023

It's not going to be finished in my lifetime or in yours or my kids' or grandkids'. That's not the point. The point is to get it started.

~ Korczak Ziolkowski

Last weekend, I took a little six-hour road trip to South Dakota to spend a full day hiking in Badlands National Park. It was amazing. The landscape is stunning and challenging to describe. It’s not quite desert. It’s not quite grassland. It’s not quite mountainous. It’s remote. Some have likened it to a moonscape. But even that doesn’t quite capture it.

You just have to go and experience it for yourself. Trust me – it’s worth it.

I also took advantage of my proximity to Mt. Rushmore to arrive at 7 a.m. the next day. I was one of the only people in the park and was lucky to have Mt. Rushmore to myself for the better part of an hour.

As amazing as Mt. Rushmore is, being there alone on a bright, sunny morning – just me, the birds, and a cup of coffee – was truly surreal. If you ever get a chance to visit the Mt. Rushmore monument, it’s worth getting there early ahead of the crowds.

But before heading home to Colorado, I had one more stop to make along the way: The Crazy Horse Memorial. And boy am I glad I did…

Fresh from Mt. Rushmore – a completed and beautiful work of rock-sculpted art – I had the chance to view a far more ambitious sculpture that is still a work in progress. In fact, by my estimation, it’s only about 20% completed. And get this, it’s been a daily work in progress since the first blast in 1948!!

And it likely won’t even be completed in our lifetimes.

The quote I began with today is from the designer and sculptor of the monument. He went on to say, paraphrasing, “What does it matter if it takes one year, 10 years, or 100 years to finish? When the legends die, the dreams end; there is no more greatness."

I took this picture at the Crazy Horse Museum. In the foreground (in white), you can see what the entire finished sculpture will look like. In the background, about a mile in the distance, you can see the actual construction taking place (zoom in).

The scale of this endeavor is truly colossal and this photograph of mine does not do it justice. You have to be there and see it with your own eyes. For scaling reference, Crazy Horse’s head is larger than all four heads of Mt. Rushmore combined.

Standing on these grounds and viewing this work-in-progress was both insanely humbling and incredibly inspiring.

It’s a reminder that greatness takes time. Anything meaningful, worthwhile, and enduring takes patience, persistence, and planning.

It was a timely reminder to me not to beat myself up about missing a trade. Or not getting a perfect exit on a winning position. The next winning trade is around the corner. And there’s always another one coming after that one.

Just get in the game. Get started. Keep going. And always be working towards a goal and improving our processes along the way. Who cares how long it takes as long as you’re making progress?

Trade 'em Well,

Sean McLaughlin
Chief Options Strategist
All Star Charts, Technical Analysis Research

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