Book Review #13 – The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success By Darren Hardy

Have you ever think of, if right now, you had to pick between receiving $3 million in cash and receiving a single penny that doubles in value every day, which would you choose? 

Apparently, it seems so easy to choose between  $3 million and a single penny. Our natural human behaviour tends to let us choose $3 million over a single penny.

Apparently the choice is quite easy. After all, we’re comparing three million dollars over a single penny, but if you go a little deeper, things become a bit more complicated. 

Imagine you have selected that $3 million over a single penny and your friend has selected that one penny. Five days later, you have your $3 million and your friend has just 16 cents. You are now probably very happy with the decision you made. By day ten, your friend would have $5 and 12 cents and around $5000 by day 20, which is barely noticeable in comparison to your $3 million.

But by day thirty-one, the magic of the compound effect works and then your friend will have more than $10 million, while you will still have $3 million. Due to your constancy and your friend’s belief in compound effect, rewarded your friend with more than three times your income.

This is how small, good choices help you to develop good habits and if you’re consistent, it will bring massive changes in the long run. Author Hardy brought up how small things may have a tremendous impact if you give them enough time, how to form good habits and to break bad ones in your life in his phenomenal book “The Compound Effect”.

But if things are so simple, how come everyone is not taking advantage of it and living fabulous lives full of health and happiness? 

These are some of the most common hurdles-

Hurdle#1 You haven’t yet reaped the rewards of the compound effect 

The compound effect is the result of making numerous little & wise decisions that add up to significant benefits. Though they don’t happen right away, the consequences can be rather remarkable. Since the progress and change first seem insignificant, many give up before realising the enormous return. 

Hurdle#2 Hard work overtime is required

We’re not accustomed to working hard, and when we do succeed briefly, we frequently quit and become lazy instead of working more. Genuine achievement takes a great deal of effort and consistency.

Hurdle#3 There are no quick fixes.

In today’s perspective, we often search for so many shortcuts to success without putting in the hard work consistently. There’s always a quick fix to our day to day sufferings whether it’s about fast food or home delivery. 

Let’s say, you’re supposed to lose weight & a wide range of diet products are claiming to be a quick fix to your journey. Now, if you just spend your day sitting on a couch scrolling your phone & intaking all those diet products, will that work?

Maybe,  you could lose 1 or 2 kilograms but the result would be nothing compared to the success that comes from continued effort, daily handwork, and discipline over time. 

So, how do you overcome these hurdles or make the right choices?

Suppose, you want to lose your weight then what your steps will be?

Step #1 Understand where you are now?

Be realistic. Know in which state you are in now. How many calories you intake per day or what is your weight now. Estimate your workout routine and calories intake or diet chart and be ready for your weight loss journey.

For example, you are 85 kilograms now and your calorie intake is about 230 calories per day. Now, if you are determined with your weight loss journey then calculate your calorie chart and figure out your own customised diet chart to follow.

Step #2 Picture where you want to be?

Set your weight loss goal and imagine where you want to see yourself in the next 2 months, why you have chosen this weight loss journey and how much weight you want to lose through this journey.

For instance, you want to lose about 15 kilograms by the next 2 months and you’re determined not to go through any diet products. Now by remembering your goal, set up your workout routine and start from today.

Step #3 Be aware of your bad choices

Figure out your constraints & bad choices you made in your weight loss journey. For example, ready-made food or fast food provided instantly by a food delivery app can be a major issue for weight gain. So just uninstall that app to comfort yourself. 

Step #4 Track your choices

Choose some good & healthy habits to maintain your calorie chart and perform your weight loss journey with zero distraction. Track your weight loss journey and figure out your right choices.

For example, drink 2 glasses of lukewarm water daily in the morning and turn it into your habit. Make a list of your morning to do list and track every morning.

Step #5 Be consistent

Try to maintain your good habit consistently and track for at least 3-4 weeks. If you succeed, reward yourself and promise yourself to maintain this consistency. About 3-4 weeks is a good amount of time to form a new habit.

Both good and bad habits play a big role in leading our healthy lifestyle. Therefore, if we want to improve our chances of living a better life, we must fully manage our habits. Let’s begin by assisting you in kicking the negative behaviours and here are five easy tricks that you may apply.

Trick #1 Know your triggers

Figure out in which situation your bad habit is triggered mostly. Reduce those unwanted objects or situations from your daily routine to get rid of the bad habits.

For example, if you’re a sweet lover and pastry is your weak point then presence of pastry in your fridge or the photos of pastries in your newsfeed will trigger your cravings for sweets.

Trick #2 Get rid of it

As you’ve figured out that pastry is your weak point and presence of pastry in your fridge or the photos of pastries in your newsfeed is triggering your cravings for sweets and interrupting your diet process, try to get rid of it by avoiding pastry in you grocery list or stop following pastry shops website or business page.

Trick #3 Find replacement

Not only avoiding pastries will help you to avoid your sweet tooth, instead you have to find a replacement for pastries. To fulfil your sweet craving you can store some fresh fruits at home instead of pastries, sweets or anything else.

Trick #4 Whether take it easy or don’t

These sudden changes in your routine may be harder or easier for you. So,you must observe whether the change in your habit is taken easily by you or bringing a dramatic change to your life. Although it’s obvious to experiment a little bit to see which side of the spectrum you fall on.

After you’ve hopefully kicked a few bad habits to the curb, let’s get into the fun part, creating a new good one. The following strategy can be followed –

Strategy #1 

Help yourself with the better option to achieve the goal. If you want to maintain your diet properly & eat healthier, keep healthier options for snacks time instead of giving yourself the option of getting fast food in one tap.

Strategy #2 

Focus on what you can have or do. You better focus on how you can take healthier snacks rather than focusing on keeping yourself away from junk food or sweets.

Strategy #3 

Be accountable and share your goals with a family member or with your best friend. This will motivate you to be better in your journey.

Strategy #4 

Find a partner in your journey.  Whether it can be your close friend or a family member who is on their own transformation journey.

Strategy #5 

Friendly competition can help you immerse yourself in the habit. If you have a closer one to compete with it can motivate you in your journey. Even if you can compete with yourself also.

Strategy #6 

Don’t torture yourself. Enjoy your journey and celebrate every small achievement with full contentment. 

These 6 strategies will help you to do even better to be at your goal. Besides this, you need to know what influences your behaviour mostly whether it can be internal or external factors. 

There can be three kinds of factors that can influence your habit formation :

Input into your mind

Know those inputs which control your brain and are consumed as a direct factor to impact on your productivity. For example, exploring new diet products won’t help you to lose weight. Rather explore a new motivational story of a successful person who has already lost his extra weight.

What associates your journey 

Your friend or closer one may influence you in your journey or can put a critical impact on your life. Find out your success buddy to reach at the peak of your success.

Your surroundings 

Reassemble your surroundings according to your comfort zone that will help you to outgrow your goals.

At the end of your journey, you will realise that the compound effects will always work in the background, whether you notice it or not. If you make good choices daily and develop good habits, you see massive results in the long run. On the other hand, a bunch of bad choices can lead to bad habits and result in significant problems down the road.

Make good choices today, that will pay you back tomorrow and enjoy the process with full of contentment.