Using The Compound Effect To Make Huge Gains In Your Life
There was a teen boy named Braiden who struggled with his weight for most of his life. He had always been overweight and often felt self-conscious about his appearance. One day, he decided that he wanted to make a change and become healthier.
Braiden started by making small smart daily choices. He began by taking a walk around his neighborhood every day and gradually increased the distance and intensity of his walks. He also started to make healthier food choices, cutting out junk food and sugary drinks and opting for more fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins.
As Braiden started to see progress, he became even more motivated to continue. He joined a local brazillian jiu jitsu gym and started going to class with his profressor who helped him develop a weightlifting and cardio routine. Braiden found that he enjoyed the challenge of pushing himself and seeing his strength and endurance improve.
Over the course of several months, Braiden's dedication paid off. He lost a total of 60 pounds and became a much healthier and happier version of himself. He was proud of all the hard work he had put in and the positive changes he had made in his life. This allowed him to step out of his comfort zone.
Braiden's story is a great example of the power of the compound effect. By making small smart choices and consistently sticking with them, he was able to achieve significant results and transform his life.
Everyday we are knowingly or unknowingly using the power of the compound effect in our lives through the small choices we make. When we look at the effect of our small choices in a daily or weekly way, there won't be much effect. It's important that we shift our focus to the long term. We should be asking ourselves questions like: If I don't brush my teeth everyday, what results will that have 1 year from now, how about 10 years from now? If I am currently drinking 3 glasses of juice a day and I replace that with water, what results will that give me 1 year from now, how about 5 years from now? If I start doing 10 pushups a day, where will I be one year from now, 10 years from now? If I practice a certain technique 10 times daily, how good will I be at it in 1 year now, 5 years from now? If I read a book a day, where will I be 1 year from now, how about in 20 years? If you are an adult, and begin training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 3 times a week you will almost certainly be a black belt in 10 years. The key to using the compound effect to make huge gains in your life is to first become mindful of your daily habits, nope it's not your habits but your DAILY CHOICES, because everything is a choice. Everything in your life exists because your first made a choice about it - you make your choices and your choices make you. Follow the formula below to unlock the power of the compound effect in your life(in a positive way) and take your results to the next level in whatever it is you wish to accomplish in your life!
Formula: Small Smart Choices + Consistency + Time = Massive Results
Recent Example:
In September, Braiden was 207 pounds and super out of shape and wanting to become healthier and get in better shape. His energy was low and he wasn't happy with where he was. Using the above formula we got him to implement a few small smart choices.
Small Smart Choice Definition: A small smart choice is any action that is taken daily which brings us closer to our desired goals. For example if our goal was to get type 2 diabetes a small smart goal would be to consume a sugary pop with every meal. On the other hand if we wanted to shed a couple of pounds, a small smart goal would be to replace that pop with a glass of water with every meal. Your goals dictate what your smart goals will be.
September's Small Smart Choices
#1 - Ten pushups daily in as many sets as needed with knees on the ground as he wasn't strong enough to be able to do a regular push up with good form
#2 - Stop Snacking in between meals
#3 - No Drinking Sugary Calories(Juice, pop etc), pretty much just drink water or sparkling water.
#4 - Limit Junk Food(Chips, cookies, candy etc)
November's Small Smart Choices
#1 - All previous Smart Choices
#2 - Twenty pushups daily in as many sets as needed with knees on the ground
#3 - 10 Air Squats Daily
#4 - Thirty Second Plank or Wall Sit(Alternating daily)
January's Small Smart Choices
#1 - All previous Smart Choices
#2 - 5-7 Regular Pushups Daily
#3 - He got a chin up bar at home and did 5 negatives daily as he wasn't able to do a chin up yet(Negative = You jump up and lower yourself as slowly as possible).
On top of all these smart choices, he was playing recreational sports a few days a week and doing an average of 3-5 BJJ classes a month due to living far away from the gym. All of this was nothing new as he was doing this all along. He followed his smart choices 90% of the time(90 out of 100 days).
Fast Forward to the beginning of March, with the power of compound interest strong at work in his favour, Braiden was down to 177 lbs - a huge loss of 30 lbs on top of putting on some muscle! His small smart choices, done consistently over 7 months had snowballed into massive results and he was now in much better shape, healthier and feeling better about himself.
Nobody could forecast what would happen next - The Covid 19 Pandemic hit. Braiden was content with his results thus far but wanted to take things up a notch to get even healthier and in better shape along with greatly developing his BJJ and Judo knowledge + skills. Now with bigger goals in mind, it was necessary to implement more small smart choices.
Mid March's Smart Choices
#1 - Working out 6 days a week in a fasted state for 15 mins, following workout routines we designed for him.
#2 - Following his meal program we designed for him
#3 - Intermittent Fasting - Eating all his food in a 2 hour window
#4 - Doing all online BJJ + Judo Classes
#5 - Studying 15-30 mins a day of BJJ/Judo highlights or instructional series
#6 - Writing down all his goals and going over them mentally first thing in the morning + doing a daily check of how things went before going to bed
#7 - Ice Cold shower daily
#8 - Eat 2 servings of organic vegetable daily
Fast Forward 8 weeks to today. Braiden followed the program with 95% accuracy. With the power of compound interest working even stronger at work in his favour, Braiden was now down to 156 lbs - a loss of 21 lbs lbs on top of putting on even more muscle! A higher amount of small smart choices, done consistently over 8 weeks had yielded even bigger results. His strength/conditioning is now on point with that of a high level BJJ/Judo competitor around his size, age and weight. Before he could hardly do a pushup even with his knees down, now he is doing weighted pushups for reps and he can do a chin up by himself. His BJJ and Judo skills have skyrocketed from studying and doing a ton of drills in the online classes. His Large adult size t-shirts which used to be tight on him are now very baggy, he fits in a small. He's in the best shape of his life, healthier than ever(Which couldn't be more important at a time like this), and he feels great about himself. It's even hard for him or any of us to imagine that only 6 months ago he was a whopping 207 lbs. The crazy thing is, his journey has just begun, and power of compound interest will only keep paying him more and more dividends as he keeps up his small smart daily choices. If Braiden
What are your goals and what small smart daily choices will you start making today to unleash the power of the compound effect(in a positive way) in your life? Remember to start small like Braiden and slowly build up to doing more, don't try to do too much at once. Many of us have been left with a lot more time on our hands because of the current pandemic, but time goes by quickly, let's use the time to build good habits and become, stronger, healthier and happier versions of ourselves. If Braiden can do it, so can you!