Be impatient to act, but patient for results.
The compound effect by Darren Hardy is another book on the benefits of positive habits. It overlaps with Atomic Habits and The power of Habit. An easy to read both that complements others in this space.
The main take-home is that small changes, done repeatedly, make a major difference. However this takes substantial time and consistent effort. At first there will be no discernible impact but with time it will accumulate.
Key points:
- It requires a long period of work before any benefit is noticeable.
- The first step in behaviour change is to make conscious the choices you make that influence these actions.
- Take 100% responsibility (akin Jocko Willink’s Extreme Ownership)
- Track (by note-taking) all your actions related to a desired outcome.
- E.g. How long you spent studying for an exam, and how you went about it for how long and where
- Start one new, positive action and try to keep it going for one week.
- Use your ‘core values’ to motivate habit change (these can be negative i.e. things you strongly dislike)
- Then use this to derive your goals
- Do a quarterly review of all higher level goals
- Build professional plan/goals around more general life goals/criteria
- For example, how many days you want to be working and where
- Consider whether to go gradually or jump in with a big change for altering habits
- Neither is necessarily right or wrong, rather habit and individual-specific
- In general it is best to start at a high intensity to get momentum but then plan to reduce after 2-3 months to a more manageable rhythm
- This should capture your initial motivation but then facilitate consistency long-term
- Try 30-days without each of your vices
- Aim for a set routine at the start and end of each day
- [Another book calling for a zero news life]
- Ask hard questions (e.g. what is the one thing I should stop doing?) to people who you trust and want the best for you
More books like this:
- The power of habit by Charles Duhigg
- Atomic habits by James Clear
- Awaken the giant within by Tony Robbins
Here are one, two, and three other summaries/reflections on this book.
