The Power of Compounding
1+1=2; 2+2=4; 4+4=8; 8+8=16; 16+16=32; 32+32=64; 64+64= 128.
In just 7 arithmetic steps, the summation of 2 numbers have gone from 2 to 128. This is the most basic display of the law of compounding. How that, in doing something consistently in incremental steps, you are able to achieve incredible results. But, unlike arithmetic, it might take longer steps in real life.
Say you want to be a doctor for example, you have to go through pre-med, then medical school, then you have to do a housemanship program at a hospital, perhaps even work at a teaching hospital before your career starts to really take off.
It’s the same for every other thing- you have to go through the process and the process comes at you slow at first but it picks up pace and then it’s hard and fast. It can be sometimes as cruel as a blistering wind, uncaring about whether you are ready for it or not. Like a gladiator, the moment you step into the arena of becoming, you have to be ready to fight, no second guessing. The process may require blood, sweat and tears from you but if that’s the only way to build capacity, then it is worth the sacrifice. Through the grind, through the hard, through your hesitation, you just keep at it. Taking steps towards the attainment of your one goal regardless of whether there’s visible fruit or not, yet.
What I have learnt about compounding is that it takes time and it will require a lot of discipline. You will build character in the place of waiting. You will build tenacity. You will learn patience because fruits take time to sprout from the ground. But you must keep at it. As humans prone to pursue pleasure, it is very much ingrained in our nature to want to stop when the going gets hard- to struggle with the urge to quit, to throw our towel in and switch path for something much easier. But there’s something to be said about abruptly quitting- it means you never believed in your vision from the start. You don’t want it bad enough, you just ‘sort of’ wanted it. Because if you really wanted it, if you really sat with yourself in all honesty and decided that the goal you are chasing is the thing you wanted the most, you would keep at it and play the long game.
Please note that this doesn’t have anything to do with chasing an individual that has indicated disinterest in you- humans have consensual agency and you must respect that.
Pursing a goal- a vision of a future, the idea of a better life, a fulfilling career, better mental health, better quality of life- whatever it is, will require you to work consistently at it.
Consistency is the name of the game that I’ve found we are playing in. You have to stay. There’s this quote I really like- there are years that ask questions and there are years that answer’’. So maybe you are in the years where there’s more questions than answers, then you have to do the heavy lifting involved in figuring out what you want the answers to be. What do you want for your life? In the next 5 years, where would you like to be? Your ability to answer these questions form the foundation of the path you will have to walk, leading up to the attainment of goals.
You see, life constantly asks us questions and if you are paying attention, you will have discerned this. What to eat for breakfast, what that next career move will be, what is the next life goal, what do you want 2025 to look like- these are all subtly, whispered questions life spews at us whether we are aware of it or not. If you take the time to answer, then that’s 1/4 of the heavy lifting required for results. If you coast, oblivious to the opportunity cost of your inaction, then time will mean nothing to you, and that I consider to be a tragedy.
I have found that the most successful people are visionaries, not even in an abstract way, but in that they are able to visualize a certain lifestyle and start to pursue it ahead of time. Nothing just happens for such people. They make plans because they understand that nothing ‘just happens’ unless you plan towards it. If you want to be a home owner in 5 years, you would have to start looking at your finances now, improving your credit score, decide on which area you’d like to that house situated, how you’d like the house to look and whether you want to build from scratch or buy an already built home. There’s lots of things to consider that will factor into you eventually getting that house so you must make a plan. Answering the questions a homeowner in 5 years need to have answers to, will help you improve your chances of goal attainment. You will also find yourself checking your plan often to ensure alignment and putting your head down to work.
That’s another thing about hacking compounding effect, you’ll have to work for it. It’s not easy to consistently keep at something for 2 years without seeing significant changes (in some cases) and not quit. But the law of compound effect says you will have to keep at it regardless. You’ll have to show working. The thing about consistently working hard at something is that eventually someone will take note, or you’ll get so much better at the thing, hit mastery level and be able to confidently say you are the best. And that in itself is an asset you can bank on because value can be monetized. So there’s always reward for consistency. Perhaps not direct rewards even- maybe you consistently solving a particular set of problems and finally finding the solution after 12 months means that the people in your circle don’t have to go through that. That is value. Helping your loved ones solve problems has altruistic rewards. But if you didn’t stay at it, you wouldn’t know how to.
I have been pursuing one singular goal for the past 10 months and while I am yet to achieve that goal, I have gotten other things out of the journey. It has birthed so much inside of me. I have gained new skills along the way, accepted growth opportunities that otherwise would not have come to me if I wasn’t in this season of my life. Yet I still haven’t achieved my goal. I reckon I’ll enter the new year still pursuing this one thing that appears to keep eluding me. But that’s okay. Because the process has done so much work inside of me that you wouldn’t believe it. Outside of new skills earned, the mental strength and clarity to know that I can set my sights on a singular goal and not back down in my pursuit of it has done some superhuman madness to my brain chemistry. I don’t think there’s anything I cannot come out of if I just stay on the course to redemption, to healing, to goal achievement. All I need to do is work hard consistently and compound effect will work its magic. And I am not disillusioned about the time it will take or the effort that will be required of me, I offer it willingly in exchange for gains at the end of this path.
So here’s my charge to you today- keep at it. It’s really never night forever, the sun comes and it is blindingly beautiful. Things get better. Just as joy comes, sadness comes, and then joy comes to wash the gloom away again. Life is in seasons; it ebbs and flows like the ocean. One minute there’s a beautiful wave and you are riding it confidently, the next minute it’s a hurricane and you’ll have to weather it. But the pursuit of something-whatever it is- demands that you stay consistent. Quitting is just like dying and if you haven’t died yet then there’s still so much you can do with that situation. Set your eyes on the prize and keep at it, and with incremental steps, you’ll reach your goal and it shall be glorious.
Love & light.
P.S: I am looking forward to writing and sharing my end of year review on the 31st.
