Change, choice and the compound effect

Change and being the change in your life is what I am all about.

When we take the courage to embark on change don't we want lasting change? Surely, we don't want to be on a diet for 6 months to then put that weight back on again in 1 month? Or build networking connections and work diligently to move up the work ladder to not actively action your connections?

Change isn't easy - whether its voluntary change or change you have to learn to cope with and embrace. We are always heading towards pleasure and taking a detour to avoid pain. This is true for change. Easy to do, easy not to do - we almost always take the later!

This is so true for all aspects of the change you want to do in your life - weight loss, work promotion, improved relationships, being more assertive, setting boundaries, re-building your life...

It's all about choices - small choices done everyday.

Change just doesn't happen and then 'kapow' you get a huge win in life over night. An over night sensation is very rarely that... that person, team, group has worked over time, consistently, turning up daily no matter what to get that huge win. To us on the outside it looks like they have just made it big!

Indulge me for a minute - One tool I will be teaching my son is financial compound effect... don't go for the instant gratification of taking your interest or money you save and spending it one something you don't need or probably don't really want... here is a basic example of the financial compound affect -

If you invest $10,000 today at 6%, you will have $10,600 in one year ($10,000 x 1.06). Now let's say that rather than withdraw the $600 gained from interest, you keep it in there for another year. If you continue to earn the same rate of 6%, your investment will grow to $11,236.00 ($10,600 x 1.06) by the end of the second year.

Because you reinvested that $600, it works together with the original investment, earning you $636, which is $36 more than the previous year. This little bit extra may seem like peanuts now, but let's not forget that you didn't have to lift a finger to earn that $36. More importantly, this $36 also has the capacity to earn interest. After the next year, your investment will be worth $11,910.16 ($11,236 x 1.06). This time you earned $674.16, which is $74.16 more interest than the first year. This increase in the amount made each year is compounding in action: interest earning interest on interest and so on. This will continue as long as you keep reinvesting and earning interest.

Example courtesy of plus read more: The Effect Of Compounding https://www.investopedia.com/walkthrough/corporate-finance/3/discounted-cash-flow/compounding.aspx

The financial example is exactly the same as the effect it will have on all other areas of your life - work, relationships, your view of success, weight, fitness... you name it.

As I have struggled with weight loss and food choices for a number of years let's use an example of weight loss - eating two slices of bread every day adds up over time. If you change this consciously to eating only 1 slice of bread (and not replacing it with something else) you won't notice the difference in your weight or waistline overnight, not even the following week but over time you will see a great difference. The insignificance of omitting this one slice of bread every day will eventually have a huge positive impact on your weight and waistline.

I hear you ask 'what about another choice in life' well let's take an example of changing your life but you believe you don't have enough time in the day to start the change - It's a very common issue for us all. Firstly, journal how you spend your day - hour by hour. I can almost guarantee that you spend more hours than you think you do watching irrelevant TV or scrolling through FB, Insta or Twitter or watching replay's of webinars you really won't act on. So, take one of those hours every day and without negotiation do something else - walk, jog, read, listen, master something - that one hour every day = 365 hours per year! Wow, that's huge.

Every decision you make may seem insignificant but it isn't.

If you really are prepared for change your 1st step has to be awareness.

I'm sure you not as aware of your habits as you think you are - take scrolling through FB for hours on end as an example.

Start to do seemingly simple positive things repeatedly for long enough so that the Compound Effect kicks in.

When you first start making changes in your life you WON'T get instant gratification and reward from your work. You MUST continue down the path and 'rinse and repeat' (I laugh I've heard this term twice in 2 days!) ... the compound effect is so noticeable with weight loss. Most diets fail because you can't see the difference. You want instant gratification. For those that keep going and doing the hard work and you see a ten kilo loss it feels like EVERYONE notices and you feel fantastic and gratified. So, you keep going. Of course, when everyone stops saying how good you look and you slot back into 'real' life and think you are in control of your eating habits you start to stop making these small good choices and start letting some bad choices sneak into your daily routine, then you wonder why the weight creeps back on... You seem to easily forget about that great feeling you had when you lost that weight and everyone noticed! Bad habits creeping back - your awareness has slipped!

You make choices, then choices make you.

Every choice has an impact on your life’s Compound Effect even the seemingly insignificant ones!

Small wins each day = big wins over time

Small quits each day = big losses over time

If this post does anything I hope it raises your awareness about the seemingly small choices you make every day.

Bye for now