Notes- The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
Introduction
Earning success is hard pg.5
New or more information is not what you need- a new plan of action is pg.5
Chapter 1- The Compound Effect in Action
I’m the world’s biggest believer in consistency pg.6
Work ethic always triumphs talent pg.7
Small, Smart Choices + Consistency + Time = Radical Difference pg.10
In reality, his or her profound success was the result of small, smart choices, completed consistency over time pg.14
Overwhelming abundance often leads to a lackadaisical mentality, which brings about a sedentary lifestyle pg.18
If we want to succeed, we need to recover our grandparent’ work ethic pg.19
Your only path to success is through a continuum of mundane, unsexy, unexciting, and sometimes difficult daily disciplines compounded over time pg.21
Chapter 2- Choices
In essence, you make your choices, and then your choices make you pg.23
Ask yourself: How many of my behaviors have I not ‘voted on’? pg.24
ThanksGiving Idea Journal: once a day, write down one thing that you are grateful for from one special person… then at end of the year hand them the journal as a gift pg.27
You hold all the power- if you always take 100% of the responsibility and ownership for the choices you make pg.29
If you have your health and a little food in your cupboard, in reality you are incredibly lucky pg.30
The Complete Formula for Getting Lucky: Preparation + Attitude + Opportunity + Action = Luck pg.31
The day you graduated from childhood to adulthood is the day you take full responsibility for your life pg.33
If you want to improve, track every action that relates to that specific area of your life pg.34... all winners are trackers pg.37… you cannot manage or improve something until you measure it pg.38
The biggest difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people are willing to do what unsuccessful people are not pg.35
It’s the littlest disciplines that pay off over time, the effort and preparation for the great triumph that happened when no one was looking pg.43
Chapter 3- Habits
Aristotle wrote, We are what we repeatedly do pg.56
Most people are riding the horse of their habits and have no idea where they are headed pg.56
Psychological studies reveal that 95% of everything we feel, think, do and achieve is a result of a learned habit! Pg.56
Our need for immediate gratification can turn us into the most reactive, nonthinking animals around pg.59
The wisest and most motivating choices are the ones aligned with that which you identify as your purpose, your core self, and your highest values. You’ve got to want something, and know why you want it, or you’ll end up giving up too easily pg.62
Your why power- makes me believe that success without fulfillment is failure pg.65
The one skill most responsible for the abundance in my life is learning how to effectively set and achieve goals. Pg.69
When you define your goals, you give your brain something new to look for an focus on pg.71
Success is something you attract by the person you become pg.72
Life Formula: Choice (decision) + Behavior (action) + Habit (repeated action) + Compounded = Goals
Five Stages for eliminating bad habits:
1. Identify your triggers
2. Clean House
3. Swap It
4. Ease In
5. Or Jump In
You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret to your success is found in your daily routine pg.84
Allows peers to be the judge of your habit… creates many eyes of scrutiny pg.87
Personally, I’m always glad when something is hard. Why? Because I know most people won’t do what it takes pg.90
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge pg.90
“brain groove”…when we give our attention to a habit, we activate the brain groove, releasing the thoughts, desires, and actions related to that habit pg.91
Chapter 4- Momentum
When you get into the groove, the “zone”, by doing the things we’ve covered so far:
-Making new choices based on your goals and core values
-Putting those choices to work through new positive behaviors
-Repeating those healthy actions long enough to establish new habits
-Building routines and rhythms into your daily disciplines
-Staying consistent over a long enough period of time
A daily routine built on good habits and disciplines separates the most successful people among us from everyone else pg.101
MVP’s (Most Valuable Priorities) for that day, asking myself, “If I only did three things today, what are the actions that will produce the greatest results in moving me closer to my big goals?” pg.104
When you start thinking about slacking off on your routines and rhythms, consider the massive cost of consistency. It is not the loss of the single action and tiny results it creates; it is the utter collapse and loss of momentum your entire progress will suffer pg.113
Chapter 5- Influences
Everyone is affected by three kinds of influences: input (what you feed your mind), associations (the people with whom you spend time), and environment (your surroundings) pg.119
Your mind is like an empty glass; it’ll hold anything you put into it pg.121
The concept of turning my car into a mobile classroom…listening to instructional CD’s, podcasts, lectures pg.126
This commitment in combination with your reading routine, separates you from the herd of average pg.127
Your “reference group” determines as much as 95% of your success or failure in life…that we become the combined average of the five people we hang around the most pg.127
Think… Who can I meet who can positively influence me? Let their glow rub off on you. Pg.132
“Peak performance partner”- teaming up with someone who is as equally committed to study and personal growth as you pg.133
“Accountability partner”- teaming up with someone who will routinely conversate and hold you reliable to fulfilling specific goals or habits… someone brutally honest with you pg.133
Mentoring is your true legacy. It is the greatest inheritance you can give to others. And it should never end. It is why you get up every day. To teach and be taught. Pg.135
Never ask advice from someone with whom you wouldn’t want to trade places pg.136
In actuality, we have control over how other people treat us pg.139
Chapter 6- Acceleration
There is a point at which you “hit the wall” and come face to face with your true inner character. Suddenly, all the projections and ideas you had about yourself are stripped away and you’re left with the naked truth pg.141
It’s not getting to the wall that counts; it’s what you do after you hit it pg.144
Hitting the wall isnt an obstacle; it’s an opportunity pg.145
It’s not until situations are difficult, when problems come up and temptation is great, that you get to prove your worthiness for progress pg.145
Another way to multiply your results is pushing past what other people expect of you- always doing more than “enough” pg.147
To me, what’s popular is average, it’s what’s common. Common things deliver common results. Pg.150
Fly across the country on a moment’s notice and show up in person. That’s how you make a statement pg.152
Observe closely and find the line of expectation- then always exceed it pg.155
I say no idea is worthwhile if it doesn’t start with WOW! Pg.156
Conclusion
Motivation without action leads to self-delusion pg.159
Ideas uninvested are wasted pg.160
When you hold true to your why-power and stay consistent with your new behaviors and habits, momentum will carry you swiftly forward pg.161
