Tuesday, October 09, 2012

The Compound Effect

I am loving my new office space.  Gorgeous health club in the building.  At the LIRR train station.  And open concept.  More on that later.

I find it is easy to "not do" something and easy to "do" something but more difficult to moderate things.  For example, it is easy to say I will not eat red meat but difficult to not eat more food on my plate.

I find it easy to exercise (although sometimes put it off).  But moderation ...

There is finally a non promotional health video that I like.

The health theme lead me to think of a recent book - The Compound Effect.  Although the book was more about money and success than health, it certainly applies.   And it does talk about the compounding of health and how success habits have a multiplying effect over time.

The book by Darren Hardy (Publisher of Success Magazine) is called The Compound Effect - Jumpstart Your Income, your Life, Your Success.

I owe a lot of my current state to my early sustained drive and to the compound effect.  Small savings and earnings added up.  At this point, it makes my life easier.

This compounding also counts in success and reputation.  I find now, things are much easier.  People return my calls.  So getting things done is easier.

As Hardy says "Small Smart Choices+consistency+time = Radical Difference"

A cute story in the book.  A magic penny doubles every day for 31 days.  What would you pay for it?  $10,000?  $50,000?  $100,000?  That single penny would be worth over $10 million!

Another example.  Coffee with cream and sugar has 90 calories.  2 cups per day for a year is 65,700 calories or almost 19 pounds.  Small changes can make big differences.  Or walk a mile per day for a year burns about 36,500 calories which is over 10 pounds.

The book is chock full of ideas on how to get and stay motivated (reading a book like this would be a good start in my opinion).

There is a chapter on momentum - something else I strongly believe in.

He certainly believes in my success habits.

I found the book fast and easy to read and inspirational reinforcement of what I know in my heart.

1 Comments:

At 4:54 PM, Anonymous Susan Dench said...

Hi Jim, Just found your blog and am really enjoying your postings! I had a conversation this morning about the compounding effect of a different sort. Someone was telling me that they wished they had started what they were doing now many years ago, but I think that you build up cumulative skill sets and interests which lead you to what you are doing now. Many people don't reach their potential or follow their aspirations because they are fearful of climbing the mountain needed to achieve their goal. Once that mountain is broken down into molehills, it is is easy to climb each one and before you know it you have scaled the mountain. Your piece on failure was also terrific and something I just wrote about as well. Anyway, thanks again!

 

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