The 8th Wonder of the World

“Compound interest is the eight wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it… he who doesn’t … pays it.”

– Albert Einstein

Small changes over time make a big difference. We can reap huge rewards from small, sustained actions. We can also reap huge problems from small, sustained actions. 

Let’s look at two middle-aged guys – Bob and Bill. Bob decides to drink one beer every night while he watches his favorite TV show/sports program for one hour to unwind (it’s just one hour – right?). Bill decides to drop 150 calories from his daily intake and spend his 60 minutes reading from good books. 

Calorically speaking – 150 calories per day compounds to 54,750 calories in a year. Consuming 3,500 additional calories will put one pound of fat on most people. Bob put on 15 pounds of body fat in one year. Bill finished the year 15 pounds leaner. 

This is just the physical side. Imagine the knowledge gained with 60 minutes spent in good books each day. Sixty minutes per day turns into 21,900 minutes in a year. The average person can read 250 words per minute. By investing 60 minutes per day, Bill read 5,475,000 words in one year. The King James Bible contains 783,137 words. He could have read the Bible 7 times in his year or 68 average-sized books. Imagine the difference in knowledge between Bill and Bob.

Let’s talk about investing. When Bob and Bill were younger they made slightly different choices on how they would spend their money. Bill decided to invest $500 per month into his retirement accounts starting at age 25 and he did this for 30 years. Bob decided he could start that later. Bob did start investing the same amount when he was 35 years of age and continued investing for the same period as Bill – 30 years. 

Bill and Bob both invested the same amount of money over the same years, but Bill started 10 years earlier. Bill ends up with $3 million in his retirement account at the age of 65 while Bob only has $1.2 million. Bill and Bob both invested $186,000 but Bill ended up with over 2x more than Bob. Why? The power of compounding. 

Compounding is powerful and the sooner we get positive compounding working for us in all areas of our lives, the better off we’ll be. 

Most of us know everything we need to know to have six-pack abs and become millionaires. We don’t need more knowledge, we need more doing. If we will do the doing, consistently, over a long period of time we will get results. 

We must trust the process and do the the boring, sometimes painful, work that leads to success. 

How To Get Started?

Find a friend who will hold you accountable to your new plan. Hopefully, they have a change they would like to make as well. Find a small change you can make that will move you closer to an outcome you desire. Daily habits are easier to build, but you can do weekly as well. Track your progress somewhere where you and your accountability partner can see it. Google Sheets and Excel online both work great. 

Track your progress. If you fail, don’t sweat it. Change your approach. If you keep failing, make the change smaller. Create momentum. Track your momentum by adding 1 point to your score every day you get it right and subtracting 1 point every time you miss it. As your score grows, you are building momentum and creating a habit. Once you have some momentum you can up your challenge or start a new one. 

Change is hard. Getting traction is the hardest part, but like the merry-go-round at the park, once you get it spinning you can keep it moving with very little effort. 

Results usually come long after the work. Keep pushing. Do the daily work and trust the results will come. Look for the small gains from your work to encourage yourself. Trust that every positive action has a positive reaction – even if you don’t see it. 

The life we seek is waiting for us. We just have to do the work to create it.

Are you ready to invest in your business to create long-term, sustainable growth? Head over to our Resource Page to find great tools to get you started.