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A lot of success and failure is compounding
Thursday, 15 February 2007
Why is it that some people get so successful that they just seem to grow in strength every year, while others sink their lives deeper and deeper into the abyss? I think the answer is that much of success and failure is compounding. The good things you did yesterday can be built upon, while the bad things you did have to be dealt with.
The classic example of this is compound interest. The person who saves money in an interest-bearing account receives an income every month in the form of interest. After time, they start receiving interest on that interest - only a little at first, but soon it builds up to be a substantial amount. They rise up and up.
On the flip side of the coin, the person who builds up debt on their credit card owes a new amount of interest every month. If they leave it for long enough, they start having to pay interest on that interest. They sink lower and lower.
It's almost a question of momentum. Once you start moving in a certain direction, it doesn't take much extra effort to move even faster.
Look at how people deal with their weight. A person who eats unhealthily and never exercises will soon become overweight and lethargic. The fact that they've abused their bodies makes them crave bad food even more and want exercise even less. The momentum they've built moves them ever more rapidly in the wrong direction. The problem compounds.
Meanwhile, the person who eats well and exercises is likely to find the opposite occurring. They start to enjoy good food and want to treat their bodies even better.
Education is another prime example. As you learn more, you can build on what you already know. You start to learn how to form new knowledge by leveraging all the good stuff already in your head. And the more you add to this pool of knowledge, the bigger the benefits become.
Often, when people start out on a new resolution, they become disillusioned quickly because the results aren't what they hoped in the short-term. Like a person who saves money in an interest-bearing account for only a year, they see little reward for their effort. But they miss the point of effort over time compounding into something truly remarkable.
With sustained determination, they're likely to find the rewards for their sacrifices compound. As they get momentum going towards the good thing they're aiming for, the paybacks get bigger and bigger.
Of course, if they choose the other direction and behave negatively, they're likely to find those efforts also compounding. This is the truth about a lot of success and failure. Ignore it at your peril.
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