A 156 pages short book, The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, is a very impactful book that will teach you that:
- There’s nothing more potent than being consistent and persistent.
- The book teaches you how a single choice you make every day can change the trajectory of your life.
- Knowing the “WHY” behind your choices and habits will give you never-ending fuel for your goal.
- You might not see results immediately after starting, but as the momentum builds, you will see things fall into place.
- Be with the crowd you would like to be with, follow, or take advice from people you admire, as influence dramatically impacts how you see and pursue things.
- Doing a little extra can make you extraordinary from ordinary.
Let’s read the book summary of The Compound Effect in detail.
Chapter 1:The Compound Effect in Action
The book starts with the author telling of his childhood with his father and how he used to push him to get everything.
Darren’s father was so punctual that one could set one’s watch by his routine. He believed you could beat anyone with talent and good skills just by putting in twice or thrice the extra effort.
His father was idle, and his idleness gave him an edge and kickstart, putting him ahead of his peers.
The author explains that the compounding effect requires small, regular steps. You won’t see results soon, but you will see drastic differences after a couple of months or years.
It looks like an overnight success to the world, but the one who uses the nature of the compounding effect knows that their baby steps and wise choices have resulted in something miraculous.
One odd thing about people who can enjoy the leisure of compounding is that they get complacent once things start to fall into place. That is where the downfall begins because there is never a pause in hard work.
Chapter 2: Choices
This chapter discusses the small steps we take on the journey of the compounding effect. Every day, we make several decisions, and each decision further expands and can change the trajectory of success and compounding.
Well, there are a few decisions we make intentionally. Still, many have been hardwired into our brains from childhood, either by our surroundings or environment, that we don’t even question and take unintentionally.
The problem is not our intentional decisions, as those can be changed, but our unintentional choices. Until you put your brain to think and observe, you can’t change those choices and replace them with better choices or habits.
The author also mentions that people do not take accountability and responsibility for their actions 100%. You would hear people saying they take responsibility for their lives but see them playing the victim or making excuses like “I would have reached on time, but due to traffic, I couldn’t”.
People who do not take responsibility further attribute things to luck.
If you live in a free world, everyone has an opportunity daily. Your small decisions and choices make you lucky.
Darren further explains that Lucky= Personal Growth + Attitude+ Opportunities+ Action
The author discusses a strategy that helped him immensely on his journey to success. The author explains it as follows:
Choose an area where you want to improve and level up. Picture yourself where you want to be. Awareness will be your first step towards your goal, so look at the small steps/choices keeping you far from it.
Be conscious of your choices today to make smarter choices in the future.
The author focuses on keeping track of everything we do in the area we want to improve. For example, if you’re going to improve your finances, you need to keep a pocket diary to pen down every penny you spend. By the end of the month, you will be amused by the extra expenses you’re making.
The author also mentions the compounding effect we don’t realize in our daily activities. A single dollar/rupee spent today is equivalent to 5X of it 20 years down the line. So, 4 dollars/day = $51,833.79 in 20 years.
Chapter 3: Habits
Using an example, the author explains that the older the habits, the more widely spread their roots are in the earth and the harder they are to uproot from our brains and bodies.
Most of the things we do in our routine are on auto-pilot and out of habit. In short, our habits run us, but until they run us, how will we shape our lives the way we want?
Even the champions of their fields are not God-gifted, but they all have one thing in common: good habits. A routine of good habits and consistency, hard work, and extra effort make them stand out from the crowd.
A bad habit in your routine can drift you miles away from your goal/destination. But have you ever wondered why we fail to persist and reach the goal?
We drift because knowing the end goal and what to change isn’t enough; you need to know the “why” as well, which would fuel us and give us the necessary pump and motivation to keep going.
If your “Why” is strong, you will have fulfilment along with success; otherwise, you might feel miserable because you lack that fulfilment, which comes when the “Why” comes from the deeper core of you.
The author says, “What motivates you is the ignition of your passion, the source of your enthusiasm, and the fuel of your persistence.”
Well, the “WHY” is also associated with, or you may say linked to, the law of attraction because if the why is clear, you start seeing things in the outside world.
We humans are wired so that what we want to achieve and what we thrive for in our inner world, we start seeing in the outer world.
The thing you’re thriving on has always existed in the world; it’s just that you have started seeing it and focusing on it. It’s the shift in your vision and eyes.
How to get started?
- List all your goals, which should not be specific to finances or any related area. Include all areas of your life.
- Write down the things you need to stop that are creating friction between you and your goal.
- Write down the habits and activities you need to start or add to your routine to change the trajectory of your life towards the goals mentioned.
- Break down your day and write down the activities you do that contribute to and don’t contribute to the goal. This will show you how much you are going off track.
Once you have all the points jotted down, follow the game changer 5 strategies to bulletproof your process and habits:
- Identify your triggers: Divide this into 4W’s (Who, What, Where and When)
- Clean House: Remove things out of sight that might distract you from your goal. For example, removing every food item from your home might create a problem on your journey if you want to lose inches.
- Swap it: Removing things will create voids, so fill them with something less harmful. Otherwise, you’ll bounce back to those bad choices.
- Ease in: Give yourself some time to sync in and adjust to the shift in choices you’re making now because if you’re a chain smoker, leaving cig from tomorrow might give you withdrawal symptoms and might look harder than it is.
- Jump In: The last strategy is to quit every bad habit in one go, gulping that hard sip. Initially, it might cause discomfort, but it would comfort you moving forward, which is challenging but might give you quick results.
Once you have the strategies so now let’s look at the techniques for putting good habits in you:
1- Set Yourself Up to Succeed- This can be done by making the right choices, like if you want to cut down inches from your belly- Join a gym that suits your routine and is near your home so that the rigour in you remains consistent and you’re able to reach your goal.
If you have a habit of playing games or being active on social media, then restrict the time spent on those particular apps on your phone so that you can eventually reduce your time and channel it into something productive.
2-Think Addition, not subtraction: This is more of a mind shift. Focus on the positive part, on what you’re getting and what you’re adding, not on what you’re losing or having to stop to get closer to your goal.
3- Go for a PDA: Public Display of Accountability- If you’re planning to do something, let everyone around you be aware of it so that even if by mistake you’re about to go off track, they’ll motivate you and won’t let you do it. Moreover, now even you’ll be cautious as you know that many eyes will be on you, watching you.
4- Find a Success Buddy- There’s nothing better than 2 people working towards a single goal together. My friend and I used to go to the gym and were aiming to shred. Not for oneself, we were tracking each other as well. Moreover, we were motivated when we worked together, created diet plans, and tracked each other weekly. After 2-3 months, I could shred more than I had hoped.
5- Competition and Camaraderie- If you have a positive approach towards everything and a positive mindset, there’s nothing better than competition as you’ll try to over-achieve to beat the other person. This compassion towards your goal might help you achieve your goal quicker/ overachieve than expected.
Celebrate your achievement because pushing towards the goal might exhaust you before you reach it. So keep on celebrating as well so that you can maintain consistency in your efforts.
Chapter 4: Momentum
Momentum is one of the most potent tools for success. Momentum is difficult to achieve initially because it needs that hard push to get and keep the flow flowing. Even in the case of the space shuttle, it burns most of its fuel to cross the orbit to maintain that momentum.
To reach to the level of developing momentum, you need to:
- Inculcate new choices that fit and align with your goal’s core values.
- Repeat those new choices so that they turn into new positive habits.
- Create that rhythm and bring it to your daily routine.
- Make your new habits like you’re brushing your teeth (effortlessly) because it reduces and relieves stress by making things effortless and automatic.
- Repeat until you see the compounding and momentum show their magic.
A daily routine with good habits paired with discipline can make you unstoppable. But let’s say, for example, New Year’s resolutions. Most people think they’ll adopt a good habit or nature or start doing XYZ, but soon, they see their goal becoming unachievable.
The goal that seemed achievable on the 1st day started looking unachievable by 3rd week or the 3rd month because doing too much too soon sets up for failure as a habit has to get in a rhythm and be followed consistently. Only after that will you be successful.
But going to the gym five days a week for two hours will set you up for failure, considering you’re not physically active. To stay active and fit, this workout habit has to stay with you for years and maybe throughout life.
Make the right choices, inculcate the right behaviours, practice good habits, and stay consistent. Maintaining momentum and rhythm will get you there quickly.
Chapter 5: Influences
When we hear the word influence, the first thing that comes to mind is someone or something who inspires or influences us.
There are 3 types of influences:
- Input (What you read or consume as content)
- Associations (People we spend time with)
- Environment (Our surroundings)
Input
If you eat healthy food, you’ll be fit, lean, strong, and anything else you can think of. If the input is good, the results will turn out good automatically.
Similarly, this happens with our brains nowadays. The first thing we do when we wake up is use social media platforms to feed news to our brains rather than consuming something inspirational, motivational, or productive.
You might not realize it, but things get stored in our subconscious brains, and due to this, your perception, the way you take and handle things, might also change. Therefore, always be conscious of what you feed your brain. Watching TV shows and sitcoms is good occasionally, but not daily.
According to research by Harvard social psychologist Dr.David McClelland, your “reference group” determines your 95% chance of success or failure.
The 5 people you hang out with determine where you’ll end up in your life. They can be your friends, colleagues, spouse, siblings or anyone.
Over time, you will observe their impact on your life. The effect is usually so subtle that it is difficult to observe, but over time, you will see changes in how you talk, walk, eat, and speak and maybe how you’ve started managing your finances.
Reference groups can significantly impact your life. Therefore, make a list and jot down their positives and negatives. Evaluate who you want in your future, change the people you stay around, or re-prioritize their importance accordingly.
This association is further bifurcated into:
- Disassociations: We need to disconnect from the people who might pull us down or do things that don’t align with our vision and goals.
- Limited Associations: You can not spend hours and days talking with everyone, so ensure you give enough time to the worthy person. Giving even 10 minutes to someone who doesn’t deserve your 30 seconds wastes time and would create a bad influence.
- Expanded Associations: Contact people who align with your thoughts or goals. See how you can spend more time with them or learn from them. Read their works, see what sessions they attend and what courses they did so that you can get as close as possible.
- Peak Performance Partner– Try to get someone with the same rigour and passion as you have for your goal and vision because this would make you accountable for your peak performance and will give you space to give feedback to the other person and on the other side be open to take feedback so that both can learn and grow together. Moreover, nothing is better than a tag team working towards a goal.
The author talks about how changing his environment expanded his vision and allowed him to think beyond his dreams.
Thinking beyond his current dreams made him push and work harder than ever, bringing him closer to his goal. He also mentions removing the clutter and everything that might drain his energy.
Clear everything that brings you down and breaks your Big Mo (Momentum).
Chapter 6: Acceleration
Accelerating and doing a little extra from what was expected is the quick hack for multiplying your results and overachieving.
When you hit the wall and achieve your maximum, just pushing a little extra can yield miraculous results, shaping you into a better person.
Try to go a bit extra in every possible area of your life. It only takes a little extra to be extraordinary and stand out. In a world where things don’t always go as expected, going over and above will make you unique.