The Compound Effect of Small Actions

The compound effect was popularized by Darren Hardy in his book The Compound Effect. In The Compound Effect, he shares that small actions repeated consistently can lead to huge results over time. Similar to compound interest, being on the good side of the compound effect will reward you handsomely.

The compound effect differs from the compound interest as it pertains to not just your money but also your relationships, career, business, health, and much more.

Everything starts with seemingly small actions that are easily overlooked. Whatever it is, that daily workout, that daily inactivity, that daily junk eating or healthy eating. Their effect seems so distant that it almost doesn't matter in the moment, right? Except it does... overtime that is.

What do you see when you look at someone that is successful? Take Will Smith for example (I'm a huge fan by the way).I see someone who must’ve had of a lot of discipline and practice, someone who must’ve faced a lot of setbacks, failures, and pain. I think anyone with any kind of success must’ve followed a set of habits and systems and worked their asses off to get there.

As a society, we celebrate the destination more than the journey and success more than the hard work that led to it. Everything seems like an overnight success so that's what we all aim for.

And in the era of instant gratification where we can literally have anything on-demand at the tip of our fingers, it seems like working towards anything has become obsolete.

So we want to get rich, lose weight, get a promotion or just anything in life quickly. But we feel overwhelmed at the thought of putting effort because we make huge goals that are intimidating and not sustainable.

While looking at people I consider successful, I noticed that they all have a set of systems that they stick to. Their success didn’t just happen overnight but through repeated small and consistent actions.

These small actions create change and success over time.

You know, how the boring, mundane, and not so sexy stuff can create extraordinary results.

In The Compound Effect, Darren Hardy actually shares that “It’s not the big things that add up in the end; it’s the hundreds, thousands, or millions of little things that separate the ordinary from the extraordinary”.

What’s amazing about this is that you and I can both create lasting change and success in our lives! It’s not restricted to the 1%, or lucky people.

So how do we do this? Through small actions! In the same book, Darren Hardy writes “small, smart choices made consistently over time will yield a radical difference in your life”

Think about it. What kind of person do you want to become and what habits or behaviors are involved?

For example, someone who is fit will exercise consistently, whether at the gym, at home, or outside.

In the beginning, it feels weird, but the more you perform these small actions, the more you identify yourself with the person you want to become and you build momentum which creates real intrinsic motivation. From there, things begin to flow naturally.

As you already know, motivation fluctuates, you’re not always motivated to do something. I’m guilty of that.

This is why smaller actions are great. They’re more sustainable and come with lower resistance and commitment because they require less time, effort and energy to be done.

They help you stay consistent and improve progressively over time. As you improve, your actions become greater and more powerful but you gotta start to get there. Baby steps!

This is very key. What you do daily won’t look like much in the short-term but will have a huge impact over the long run.

As James Clear from Atomic Habits puts it, “Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same way that money multiples through compound interest, the effects of your daily habits multiply as you repeat them".

Think of your life as a garden, every small action step that you make is a seed that you’re planting. You’re not gonna have a garden or even a tree tomorrow, but if you consistently plant and water these seeds with your blood, sweat, and tears, you’ll have huge and beautiful metaphorical garden.

After asking yourself what kind of person you wish to be, break down how you can get there. Start small and work backwards from it.

If you wish to read more, start with reading 5-10 mins every day and gradually increase it.

If you want to lose weight or be more fit, find an exercise and do it regularly until you can do a full workout and then do it every other day, or 3 times a week, on M/W/F.

When I was younger I couldn’t do a push up, so I decided to do 1 knee push-up every day before taking my shower until I reached 10 push ups, and then that’s when I started working out.

Whoever it is you want to become, act accordingly, start small, stay consistent and don’t stress over getting results. They will come, but first you need to change who you are and how you behave because you are a reflection of what you do every day.

On this note, I hope you found this useful and I’d like to conclude this post with a little but powerful quote from Will Smith. Have a great rest of the day and stay tuned for more!

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