The Amazing Powers of Compounding
“It does not matter how slowly you go up, so long as you don’t stop.”
— Confucius, Philosopher
“I will study and prepare, and someday my opportunity will come.”
— Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States
In Darren Hardy’s The Compound Effect, he describes a concept and strategy of “compounding” your tiny efforts to produce big results.
Compounding is so cool because once you understand how it works and are aware of it in your everyday life, you begin to make smarter little decisions. It’s the little, tiny decisions that we make every day that shape us.
Compounding can be really good or really bad. So many people disregard the amazing power that compounding has. Here is an example that will put negative compounding into perspective. Example: We know that, if we eat unhealthy foods, we will gain excess weight. But because this process of gaining weight is a slow, compounding process, most people don’t notice it until it’s time to buy all new clothes. And the reverse process — of losing weight (compounding good habits and behavior) — also takes a while. I’m sure most people would not eat unhealthy foods if they instantly gained weight. And I’m sure more people would work out if all you had to do was work out once and magically be in healthy shape, with a sexy body. The law of compounding relies solely on the long-term results that stem from persistently repeating something over and over again. “Slow and steady wins the race” is a great example of compounding small, slow, steady growth to achieve success.
At one of Brad Sugars’ seminars I attended, he related a great compounding parable that I will always remember. He said, “If I told you that all you had to do was shovel elephant poop for one hour a day, every day, for 10 years, and, by the end of those 10 years, you would acquire any amount of money, any material objects, or any level of happiness that you’ve ever wanted, by a show of hands, who would be up for the challenge?” About 80% of the room raised their hands. Keep in mind, this room was full of adults, primarily business owners, above the age of 30. Then he proceeded to say, “Now replace the elephant poop with a book, and you’ll do just that.” I will never forget that. At my age at the time, I could definitely relate to comparing reading a book to shoveling elephant poop. I was surprised to see that most business owners above the age of 30 paralleled my sentiment.
It doesn’t matter how long “something” is going to take you. The time is going to pass anyway, and, if you want “something” bad enough, you will work toward it as the time passes. Eventually your compounded efforts will more than likely result in the achievement of your “something.”
I will go into more depth as to how you can use the amazing powers of compounding in your everyday life in the chapters to come. But the simple rule to remember is: Start small, start slow, and, with continuous perseverance, you can accomplish anything. Never think you can hit a home run your first try and then be disappointed you didn’t. You must swing many times until you can’t miss. Losers practice until they get it right. Winners practice until they can’t get it wrong.
Persistent baby steps is the key to remember for implementing compounding into your life.
Random Fact
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321.
