The Compound Effect

What I’m loving right now…how little changes can add up to big things.  I think we can all agree that we thought about one thing in our lives where we wondered if making a small change could add up to big results.

One common example is not stopping for a coffee everyday.  How much money would you save if you didn’t get a fancy coffee from a coffee shop every day and made coffee at home a few days a week?  If you currently stop 5 days a week and spend on average $3.50 a visit here are the financial results of cutting back to 2 days a week (I’m not an ogre after all):

• In 1 year you’d have saved $546
• In 3 years you’d have saved $1,638
• In 5 years you’d have saved $2,730.  You also have to factor in interest if you put that money in the bank.

What I’m working on is losing weight.  Last year I did 98 Jazzercise classes.  This year my goal is 150 classes. Just one more class per week.  I burn on average about a 400 calories per class. One must burn 3500 calories to lose a pound.  If I accomplish my goal and reach 150 classes this year and make NO other changes to my diet or lifestyle here are the weight loss results I would experience:

• In 1 year I’ll lose 6 pounds
• In 3 years I’ll be down 18 pounds
• In 5 years I’ll be down 30 pounds and pretty close to my goal weight!

I recently read a book Called The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy which delves deep into this concept.  I highly recommend this book.  It was a total game changer for me.  You can buy it here on Amazon.  It comes in pretty much any form- paperback, hardcover, audible (my fav), or Kindle.

Give it a read or listen.  I know you’ll come away with at least one small change that will lead to BIG results in your life.  I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below.  What small change can you make that can compound into a sizable positive result in your life?

Love,

Cindy

P.S.  Want to ensure you don’t miss a thing I love? Click this link to have my blog emailed straight to you.  I’ll be doing a drawing for a copy of The Compound Effect for new subscribers this week.

*Full disclosure- I am an Amazon affiliate and will get some cash money if you click through one of my links and make any purchase on Amazon.  My promise to to you is that I will never promote a product or service I do not like or use as part of my affiliate program.

 

What Motivates Us?

What I’m loving right now….having the motivation to succeed.  I recently participated in a Jazzercise challenge where between February 1st and March 7th, members would win a tank top for going to 30 classes in those 35 days.  When they announced this challenge, I had been away for a few days.  I showed back up to class on January 31st and looked at my friend Andrea and said, “What are all those signup sheets for?”.  She told me about the challenge and I immediately thought: There is no way I can do this.  I’m going to be on vacation 5 of those days.  I am a full time working mom.  My knee and shoulder have been bothering me and I don’t want to make it worse.  Blah. Blah. Blah.  On and on with the excuses in my head in 2 seconds flat.  BUT I looked at Andrea and we both said, “Maybe we can do it.  Let’s just try.”  There wasn’t much time overthink it as the challenge started the next day.  We didn’t have any days to lose if we were going to do this.

The next day and the 33 days after that (we achieved the goal on day 33 thank you very much) we had a plan.  We sometimes did 2 classes in a day.  We went early and late to accommodate our work schedules.  We both went to class when we were sick.  I am not telling you this story for you to think this was some crazy feat, tons of our Jazzercise friends also achieved the goal and got the tank top even days before we did, but it got me thinking about motivation.  Where does it come from and why do we sometimes have it so freely and sometimes it’s JUST SO HARD to achieve a goal?

The definition of motivation is the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.  So what were my reasons for behaving this particular way now when I had let these same types of challenges come and go in the past without having the motivation finish?

• Was it the buddy system?  Yes that was a big part.  Andrea was counting on me and I was counting on her.  Still, no one can make you do something you truly aren’t motivated to do, no matter how good of a buddy they are.
• Was it the tank top?  Yes and No.  During the challenge Skylar (my 6 year old) saw the tank top on display at the Jazzercise center and she commented that all this effort didn’t really seem worth the tank top.  Yes I agree in theory, but it’s a symbol of the accomplishment.  Bragging rights when you wear it so to speak, not the actual top itself.
• Was it knowing that I’d finish the 35 days in better physical shape and maybe lose a few pounds?  Sure that always helps.

The interesting thing about motivation is there are studies that prove that traditional “rewards” only work as motivation in a small amount of cases.  This challenge appears to be one of those cases where a reward would work to motivate.  When there is a narrow focus that requires little to no cognitive skill, rewards work.  Go to 30 classes in 35 days is a pretty narrow focus.

When you introduce a challenge that has even a small amount of cognitive skill, traditional rewards result in a POORER performance.  Wait, what???  You know what behavioral scientists find is more motivating to people than reward?  Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.  For a high level overview, watch this TED Talk by Dan Pink.  For a more detailed explanation I recommend his book Drive.  As someone who makes their living as a salesperson with traditional rewards as the cornerstone of my compensation plan, I immediately found this fascinating and maybe untrue in my case.  However, after really thinking about how this theory could apply to me, I came to the conclusion that I would gladly take a slight pay cut to have the autonomy of working from home than a higher salary for going to an office everyday.  Thankfully, I work for a company that doesn’t make me choose autonomy over pay and for that I am grateful.

So tell me in the comments…do you think you value Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose over reward?

Love,

Cindy