Don't Underestimate The Tremendous Power of The Compound Effect

It’s human nature in us to want big bold and profound changes instantly, and to expect miracle weight loss solutions. Changing your diet to a keto or paleo diet and sticking with it can certainly produce results fast, and when you add some exercise to that the results can be even more impressive.

In fact cutting out sugar and alcohol from your diet and cooking from fresh single ingredient foods (fresh meat, fish dairy and vegetables) and avoiding all processed foods can make a profound change in a short time if you are consistent.

To avoid yo-you dieting however there’s no getting away from the fact that you HAVE to change what you eat and your exercise levels in the longer term, and take a different approach to food and exercise.

Very small daily changes, or choices, in what you eat or in your exercise levels, consistently carried out over time can also have very profound effects on your weight and health in the longer term.

In his book The Compound Effect, Darren Hardy (listenfor free here) illustrates the Compound Effect with the story of The Magic Penny:

If you were offered £3 million/US$3 million in cash or 1 penny/ cent that doubled in value every day for 31 days, which would you choose?

If you chose the magic penny by day 20 you’d be at just $/£ 5242.88 compared to 3 million. At day 29 you’d have 2.6 million, but by day 31 you’d have more than tripled the 3 million with $/£ 10,737,418.20.

When I first read this I didn’t really believe it as maths is not my strong point, and I had write it out to prove it to myself:

Day no	Amount $/£	Day no	Amount $/£	Day no	Amount $/£
1	0.01	11	10.24	21	10,485.76
2	0.02	12	20.48	22	20,971.52
3	0.04	13	40.96	23	41,943.04
4	0.08	14	81.92	24	83,886.08
5	0.16	15	163.84	25	167,772.16
6	0.32	16	327.68	26	335,544.32
7	0.64	17	655.36	27	671,088.64
8	1.28	18	1310.72	28	1,342,177.28
9	2.56	19	2621.44	29	2,684,354.56
10	5.12	20	5242.88	30	5,368,709.12
				31	10,737,418.20

Darren Hardy describes the compound effect like that Magic Penny- as a series of small smart choices which appear to have no obvious or immediate win, but when added to consistency and time produce staggering results.

If you’ve read other things I’ve written you’ll know I consider diet and exercise as only one small part of successful and healthy weight loss and weight 

maintenance. In my opinion, and in my own experience, most of the battle is in your own mind. 

Most of the obstacles to do with eating a healthy weight loss or maintenance diet and doing enough exercise are mental ones, and your conscious and unconscious mind are not always well aligned with the goals you set yourself. 

That’s true for weight loss, as well as goals in almost every area of your life. When you set out to lose weight, get slim and trim and stay that way, you need to stack all the odds in your favour by aligning your own mind with your goals and by learning simple tactics and strategies to successfully go round obstacles and achieve your goals.

Give yourself and your goals a real boost by listening to The Compound Effect audio book (it’s free! Access it here). Listen on headphones on the commute to work, or play it in the car, when you’re cooking in the evening or whenever you have a few minutes to spare. 

I found it opened my eyes to the incredible power of consistently making small choices., and of the consequences of opting out and kicking the ball further down the road.

So here’s the link to Darren Hardy’s audio book of The Compound Effect:

https://soundcloud.com/larry-amos-jr/the-compound-effect-disc-1?in=larry-amos-jr/sets/darren-hardy-the-compound

It’s free, so what are you waiting for?

Article by Victoria Warrell