#17 - The 8th Wonder of the World

"All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest." 

This is a quote from the great entrepreneur, investor and thought leader, Naval Ravikant.

Today we will take a break from the usual training and fitness content to cover compounding.

A life-changing phenomenon we can take advantage of to grow and develop - across all areas of our lives.

Let’s get into how.

At the start of a meaningful pursuit, commit to it for 6 months

Compounding takes advantage of repeated and consistent output and effort over time.

While quality often trumps quantity, we need quantity at the beginning of a pursuit to become familiar with that thing.

There will be lots of repetition and lots of mistakes. Both of these are conducive to learning and increasing the quality of your work over time.

Naturally, as you keep at something, you will improve and become better.

As quality increases alongside consistent output, this is where power laws and compounding start to work for us.

You are putting yourself in a prime position to see exponential gains.

There is no specific point at which improvement becomes exponential.

You won't notice it in the moment, but you will notice that it has happened when you look back.

You just have to keep at it.

“Keep going - the massive gain could be just around the corner.” - Brad Stulberg

Expect to see little to no reward for your actions in the beginning

This is OK.

Unfortunately, people do not stick to something long enough to see the outsized returns and benefits.

They give up because a lot of effort must be put in to see exponential rewards.

Also, they may think they are doing the wrong thing because they haven't yet seen the results they expected, and stop as a result. 

In reality, if they had just stuck at it for longer, they would have given themselves the best chance to experience life-changing rewards.

Delaying gratification is vital to this whole process and, for the most part, humans are very poor at this. 

We are hardwired to seek out the quick, short-term reward, but this prevents us from getting the things we want the most.

Speaking of…

Learn to delay gratification

This is one of the most universally beneficial qualities to have.

The rewards of almost any large and meaningful pursuit will take time and sustained effort.

Delaying gratification is required to get there.

For example:

- Fitness (losing fat, building muscle, gaining strength).

- Growing a following.

- Building a business.

- Acquiring knowledge.

- Personal growth.

- Developing a relationship.

"A hallmark of any compounding process: the most powerful outcomes are delayed." - James Clear

All of these things will greatly benefit from consistent, sustained action over time,

Not quitting and giving in to instant gratification. 

The rewards will come to those disciplined with their actions, but patient to see the fruits of their labour.

Trust the process.

Just because you can't do the thing optimally or the best way, does not mean that you should not do it. 

Do it regardless.

"Consistently good is better than occasionally great." - Nick Bare

Learn to enjoy the process of pursuit

The holy grail of this is getting to a point where the pursuit of meaningful things becomes a reward in and of itself. 

You get pleasure and dopamine from exerting effort in pursuit of something.

"The pursuit is the reward." - Andrew Huberman 

If you can get to this point, you have acquired a superpower.

Believe in the power of cumulative action. 

Always have faith. Keep at it. 

A completely new life may be not far away.

That’s it for today!

I hope you enjoyed this piece talking about something different from usual.

Have a good one!

• Adam