The Compound Effect Summary
5 min read ⌚
Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success
Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success Most people believe that they can change their lives at the snap of their fingers. Of course – it’s never that easy. The whys and the alternate how-tos are in Darren Hardy’s “The Compound Effect.”
Who Should Read “The Compound Effect” and Why?
Our habits determine our lives.
If you are a person who is trying to finally lose that weight, quit smoking, stop procrastinating or fighting to change any other aspect of the way you live your “every-days” then this is the book for you.
It will teach you how momentary decisions to change are not the way to transform, and how instead you should look for the solution in incremental, consistent actions repeated daily for a longer period of time.
Small steps yield big results!
About Darren Hardy
Darren Hardy is an American motivational speaker, advisor and “New York Times” bestselling author. He is the former publisher of the SUCCESS magazine and the writer of two more books, “Living Your Best Year Ever” and “The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster.”
“The Compound Effect PDF Summary”
It’s the age of the Now.
Unfortunately, we are not talking about the good “now”!
We’re talking about the “now, now, now” of fast foods, fast reading, fast money… fast life.
The problem is: the faster and easier something comes, the less we are inclined to cherish it. Take gamblers, for example, they gamble away most of the money they win the very next day!
Why?
Because they did not work hard to earn them.
That is why, even if you do lose 20 pounds in 40 days – there’s a high chance that you will get some of it back in the next few months.
Of course, you would since your brain thinks you can lose it all once again in no time.
The result?
Unhealthy life due to “now, now, now” objectives. And, more importantly, inconstant life.
So, what’s the key?
The small stuff. The daily habits.
It is all about the daily habits.
And transforming them starts with a transformation of the way you think about them. Many of the habits you currently have are probably bad habits.
But, you would not know that if you do not take into consideration your goals.
Another thing you may not be aware of if you do not have clear goals in your mind are your decisions.
The decisions you make on every turn of your life define whether you reach the place of your dreams or not. In order to evaluate the soundness of your decisions, however, you have to have something to measure them against.
Yes, we are talking about the list of goals you want to achieve, and whether the decision at hand helps you accomplish something off that list or not.
If you do not have a list of goals, write it now.
When you do, you will get your life and daily behavior into perspective, and you will realize what habits may be an obstacle to you reaching some of your goals.
There are very few bad habits per se. For example, if you want to run a marathon, then running only a single mile a day is not a good habit. But, it is a great one if you want to live a healthy life.
After you have finished your list of goals, and have found the bad habits, try to find the alternative habits, the good ones, given your objectives.
You cannot beat a bad habit – you can just replace it.
Knowing which is the habit is not enough – you have to create a routine that you will be willing to follow for a time long enough, so the habit becomes your natural rhythm.
That is what Darren Hardy calls the Big Mo, which is short for the Big Momentum. Step by step – you’ll get there. Don’t rush into anything you can’t keep up with.
It’s just like Lao-Tze said: “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” And – adds Hardy – it consists of million same-sized steps!
Key Lessons from “The Compound Effect”
1. Find Out the Right Habits Which Will Help You Reach Your Objectives
2. Create a Routine to Build Up a Momentum – and the Big Mo Will Do the Rest
3. Become the Boss of Your Life In 30 Days
Find Out the Right Habits Which Will Help You Reach Your Objectives
There are good habits and then there are bad habits. However, you won’t know one from the other until you are aware of the objectives in your life.
In other words, there’s nothing inherently bad in the habit of drinking coffee with your friends on a daily basis – if your objective is to be a social person. However, if you want to win an Olympic medal, then not going to the gym is certainly a bad habit.
So, make a list of your habits. And see which of them are bad in view of your objectives. Of course, knowing your objectives is a prerequisite!
Create a Routine to Build Up a Momentum – and the Big Mo Will Do the Rest
Many people make the mistake of wanting too much in too little time.
In other words – they set up unrealistic goals like going to the gym twice a day for few hours. And they manage the keep up the routine for few days, after which they give up and feel sorry for themselves.
Their problem: they want to force the big momentum. And the Big Mo is a process. In other words, it’s far better to go to the gym three times a week for an hour – and never miss a class – than force yourself to go every day for at least two.
Become the Boss of Your Life In 30 Days
There’s a chimp in your brain solely interested in instant gratification. Prove to yourself that you can be bigger than him. Take control of your life by eliminating instant gratification habits during the next month or so. Don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t eat any kinds of snacks.
Because that’s how you can earn your willpower instinct for a lifetime.
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“The Compound Effect” Quotes
You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine. Click To Tweet Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better. Click To Tweet You alone are responsible for what you do, don’t do, or how you respond to what’s done to you. Click To Tweet 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. Click To Tweet The (Complete) Formula for Getting Lucky: Preparation (personal growth) + Attitude (belief/mindset) + Opportunity (a good thing coming your way) + Action (doing something about it) = Luck Click To Tweet
Our Critical Review
“The Compound Effect” is not another self-help book that will make you feel motivated for the moment, and then let you slide back to your old ways.
Instead, it is a real, down to earth guide which will help you see that there is no magic fix for anything in life, and will show you why consistency is the only way you can achieve your goals.
Emir is the Head of Marketing at 12min. In his spare time, he loves to meditate and play soccer.
