The Negative Compound Effect
And how to avoid it...
4 days ago, I wrote this post about daily wins and how you can use them to have a happier, more fulfilled life! If you haven’t read that post, check it out and then come back to this.
Last night, I wrote this post about what the compound effect is and how you can either use it to create or destroy the life you want. Again, if you haven’t read that post, check it out and then come back to this.
Today, I am going to tie these two ideas together and show you how you can use your daily wins to ensure that you don’t end up like Person 2.
Analyse your wins and losses
If you apply the ‘daily wins’ technique I spoke about, you will start to see a pattern emerge in the things that you are doing daily.
In the same way we will ALL have daily wins, you will most likely have things you are doing in your day you know you shouldn’t. In the same way you are able to identify your wins, you need to be able to identify your bad habits too.
This can take so many different forms and will be different to so many people.
For you, this might be the spliff you have in the evening or the 2 hours of TikTok time. Over time, bad habits can cost you your optimal brain function and a hefty bit of cash, two things I think we would all agree we would rather preserve.
Start small
I remember seeing this video a while back and thinking about how powerful it is. Of course, it is the main man JP. This gives you nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. You will know the answer to this question.
Watch this before you read on, he says it better than I could.
If you notice a few bad daily habits, start to ask yourself what your life would look like if these were compounded over time. If the answer is not one you want, you may want to consider cutting them out.
For me, a big one was vaping. I was vaping every single day and I felt such an incredible difference I felt just taking the small step of cutting it our Monday - Friday. Even if you just don’t vape until midday rather than using it first thing in the morning, that is still massive progress.
Fill the void
A lot of people are actually really good and getting rid of bad habits. However, a lot of the time they simply replace it with something else. How many people do you know who have said ‘I have stopped smoking weed’ and gone on to hit the booze now. Perhaps, someone has said they are going to cut down their TikTok time but instead replace it with YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels.
Instead, find good habits and daily wins that build your character and develop you into the best version of you.
Cheesy and cringy, I know. There really isn’t any other words for it.
Maybe you could start reading my newsletter every day as your good daily habit :)
Stick to it
It is easy to give up a bad habit for a few days but what is really hard is to replace it with a good habit, and then stick to it.
Some people say it takes 21 days to build a habit, Gymshark say it takes 66 days but if you really want to change your life for the better, habits need to last a lifetime.
Giving up bad habits is hard. It is a mental battle that, depending on your habit, can also be made harder by genuine addictive substances.
I am not here to tell you what you can and can’t do.
Don’t listen to me but do listen to yourself.
If you know you are doing something wrong, think about Person 2.
Do you really want to run the risk of becoming like them?
EXTRA STUFF
I am going to continue with the topic of habits and the compound effect in the next posts. Tomorrow, I am going to show you how you can identify your own habits to supercharge your progress! If this interests you and you want to learn more from an expert, check these books out:
The Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg
Atomic Habits - James Clear (Must Read)
The Compound Effect - Darren Hardy
CM x