The Compound Effect Part 1 - How the Smallest Changes In Your Habits Can Transform Your Life For the Better.

On Friday, February 15, 2013, humanity was reminded that we are not alone in this Universe. That day two major cosmic events occurred: a meteor crashed into Russia causing a series of explosions that injured over 1,000 people, and an asteroid flew 17,000 miles away from Earth – that’s closer than some of our satellites! Fortunately life continued as normal for the majority of the planet, but an event of such Cosmic Proportions can seriously make you wonder. What if the meteor had been bigger and hurt even more people? What if the meteor had hit my hometown? What if the asteroid, and not the meteor, had hit Earth instead? And so, thousands of scientists got to work to figure out the answers to these types of questions. What they found was both mind-boggling and brilliant! One group of scientists figured out that by using magnetics they could adjust the asteroid’s path by 1 millimeter per second and completely change its course. One millimeter per second. That sounds like nothing, doesn’t it? The scientists explained that it may not sound like much, but one millimeter per second is all that is necessary to save a planet from getting hit by an asteroid because if the movement is constant it will add up to several thousands of miles over time. Thanks to the mysterious workings of the Cosmos, the asteroid and the meteor were sent to Earth to teach us a lesson about The Little Things That Add Up Over Time. One millimeter is too small of a distance for an average person to think about, but it is a distance nonetheless. In the same vein, one second is too short of a time for an average person to worry about, but it is an amount of time nonetheless. After one minute traveling at one millimeter per second, an object will have traveled 60 millimeters, but after one day it will have traveled 86,400 millimeters. As a Coach, I find this concept to be both humbling and illuminating. Every small step you take is leading you down a path, and it is up to you to consciously decide in which direction each step will lead you. This concept is not at all something new. It is known as the Power of Compounding. It is The Little Things That Add Up Over Time (also known as The Compound Effect) that influence our spending habits, our savings habits, our approaches to life, and our abilities to succeed. The Power of Compounding: Personal Development “Have you ever been bitten by an elephant? How about a mosquito? It’s the little things in life that will bite you. For most of us, it’s the frequent, small and seemingly inconsequential choices that are of grave concern.” – Darren Hardy, Publisher of SUCCESS Magazine Simply put, “It’s the little things that count.” The “little things” in this case could be the pennies you threw out rather than saved, the minutes you used to check Facebook rather than to call your Mom, or the hour you got sucked into watching “Law & Order” instead of writing that proposal your boss asked you for three days ago. It’s the seemingly insignificant seconds that you let pass that add up to lost hours, days, months and even years of time. That means lost years of life… Years of Your life that could have possibly been spent more wisely. Ask yourself this question: “Where was I five years ago on today’s date? What did my life look like five years ago?” Stop and really think about it. Maybe you were doing well financially and you were maintaining very successful relationships. On the other hand, maybe you were not. Around this time five years ago, many successful people were watching their assets decrease in value or completely disappear! At the same time, or as a direct result, many of their relationships started to fall apart due to insecurity and fear. The onset of the “Financial Crisis” was a frightening time for many people. However, if you are familiar with history, you might know that everything is cyclical and that the economies tend to bounce back from recessions. So, with that in mind, ask yourself another question: “Where would I like to be five years from today’s date? What do I want my life to look like in five years?” Again, stop and truly think about it. Don’t be afraid to let your imagination build your dream. Allow your mind to create a perfect vision. You might be saying that you would like to travel, drive a nice car, have 7-figures saved up in a liquid savings account, have a sexy beach body, & the kind of life that all of your friends and family would drool over. But you’re asking yourself, how will I get there? This is where the law of compounding kicks in. And it applies to literally every aspect of your life… from health, to relationships, to money. If you want to be healthier, simply start with ONE apple per day. I’m not saying to cut off everything else that you eat and try to do it “cold turkey”, because that will rarely ever work. I’m simply saying, add ONE simple & virtually unnoticeable step to your lifestyle. “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” remember? You can even start by just walking around the block just once. Something you’ve never done before. And do that every day. By the end of the year, you will have walked 365 blocks! That’s pretty good, if you ask me. How about your relationships? An excellent example that Darren Hardy gave in his book, The Compound Effect, was one where he wrote down just ONE positive thing that he noticed about his wife every day. It varied from the way she did her hair that day, the way she took care of a particular situation, the smell of her perfume, the content of her character, etc. He did this because he wanted to improve his own relationship and value his wife more. But what happened as a result was absolutely amazing. He mentioned that after a year of doing this, he had filled up an entire journal, both pages. And on their anniversary, he gave the journal to his wife. Needless to say, she was absolutely delighted and LOVED the idea. And even more needless to say, their relationship was at its absolute best. You can apply this idea to any one of your relationships. And finally… money. Contrary to popular belief money is NOT tough to figure out. It’s not a complicated game of chess. And it doesn’t require magical skills… although, I suppose that can definitely help. It was actually when I was towards the beginning of my wealth creation process that I noticed the most magnificent thing. There is a natural law of the universe called the Law of Attraction. This law simply states, that what you focus on expands. So I wanted more money. And I really wanted to put the law of attraction to the test, so I started saving about 5% of my income every month. Not a significant amount and I never really noticed that it was missing. But what happened after a few months was nothing short of astounding. Although I may have not saved any significant amount, the simple fact that I was saving ignited the Law of Attraction and I got a bonus at work. The bonus motivated me to work harder and I kept qualifying for more bonuses. Shortly after, an idea that I really wanted to launch finally took off and I started getting book sales. And it was basically exponential growth after that. But it all started with a mere 5% savings habit. You see, no matter where you are in life, the law of compounding can help you. You can be, have or do anything you want and it doesn’t require any drastic changes. Just a few adjustments in your daily habits and you’re on your way. And stay tuned for Part 2 of this series where we go into the greater details of how the law of compounding can help your financial life.