Hi meaningful leader,
Wasn’t last week a bit crazy?!? I’m so blessed to have you to share all the amazing things that are happening and how much I’m learning throughout this process of publishing my book. But for today I want us to focus on a principle that will help you achieve incredible things with tiny consistent effort.
I’m talking about the principle of compounding. As a Finance major and homeowner with a mortgage, I’ll start with the mathematical approach first and build the idea from there. Compound interest refers to the interest you earn (or accrue) on interest. To illustrate this better, let’s use basic math: Let’s say you deposit $100 into a savings account earning 5% annual interest.
- Year 1: you’ll have $105 at the end of the year.
- Year 2: you’ll have $110.25 because aside from earning the same $5 over the original $100, you also earned $0.25 on the $5 in interest.
- Year 10: you’ll have more than $162 without ever adding a cent to the account.
- Year 25: you’ll have close to $340. All thanks to the power of compound interest.
On Sunday, September 18 I created a post on LinkedIn, announcing to my professional network that I had successfully completed the training and project requirements and have obtained my Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification. This to me was a monumental accomplishment, because of the time and mental investment required while juggling work and other life-related responsibilities. Then on Sunday, September 25 (a week later) I created another post on LinkedIn, announcing to my professional network the release on my book.
The funny thing is that due to the close proximity of both accomplishments, some people think I may have a dangerously close relationship with Adderall (for those who don’t get my reference, Adderall is a drug that combines amphetamine and dextroamphetamine, two central nervous stimulants that improve focus and reduce impulsivity by increasing dopamine and norepinephrine levels in the brain and it’s used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – ADHD).
Just as a disclaimer, I’ve never taken Adderall…but sounds interesting…
The fact that both posts were made so close together, far reflects the time and effort put into each one of these goals, before either became a reality. That’s the power of compounding. It add what you do today over the sum of what you did yesterday and the day before and by multiplying the effort, the reach becomes exponential.
Dreams should be big and scary. They have to have the ability to make you feel both inspired and completely inadequate at the same time. If they make you hyperventilate a bit, even better! Because your dreams are a reflection of the person you have to become in order to achieve them, no the person you currently are. Achieving dreams requires transformation and growth and at times it can feel painful.
Compounding our work daily will help us in the task of breaking down huge, insurmountable goals and dreams into manageable every day tasks that when compounded, create a massive, incredible success.
Compounding is pure magic!
One of the most valuable compounding efforts we can invest on is personal development (yes, I’ll keep beating this drum!). Learning daily will transform you, I guarantee it! And for this you don’t need to start out reading massive amounts of books and processing copious amounts of information. You can literally start with a 30-minute podcast episode a day during your work commute, or a couple of daily YouTube videos on skills you want to develop, or even just a chapter-a-day of a book with great reviews on the subject you’re interested in learning. The key word is daily.
Seek and you shall find, ask and you shall receive…
In the information era in which we live, staying ignorant is a choice…a poor choice but a choice nonetheless (and good friends don’t allow their friends to make poor choices!).
So what if you only completed high school, who cares?!? Unless you are interested in the type of profession that requires you to have a formal education in order to let’s say save lives like medicine, or build bridges like engineering, degrees on a resume only show your commitment to start and finish something…that’s all.
As a hiring manager, this is my truth bomb for today!
Everything else can be search and learned on the go. And if that process is repeated consistently (search and listen or read), you’ll unlock the power of compounding knowledge and skills, and you’ll become unstoppable!
Writing has proven to be one of the things I’m most passionate about. Heck! I write this blog weekly for free just for the satisfaction of sharing what I know and am learning with you. So in order to make this a serious endeavor, I committed to it daily. Compounding the work I put in and as a result, I finished the book.
Pick a skill you want to dominate. Obsess about learning everything there is to learn about it. Have faith in your ability to master it and visualize yourself already doing it. Focus all your effort and commit to it, and in no time, you’ll become a subject matter expert in it. That’s the secret sauce.
Stop making excuses, we are all busy. Yet your day has pockets of time that can be maximized. Start by setting a 30 minute non-negotiable event on your calendar and use it do the deed.
Then, rinse and repeat…
And never approach your goal with a plan B, you must go all in – it’s do or die!
I hope you found value here today. I appreciate you and I’m so happy we get to hang out each week. Please share with a person you know this content can be beneficial to, like, share on social media and comment. I love connecting through your comments 🥰
If you’d like to show further support for this blog or wanna tip this article, please buy me a coffee
Have an amazing rest of the week, start compounding and God bless,
Maria
PS if you haven’t yet, please pick up a copy of my book. If you have it and have read it, please leave me an honest review on Amazon and /or Barnes and Noble. Reviews allow me to put the book in front of more leaders out there.
Gracias / Merci / Danke / Thanks
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