I hope 2017 has gotten off to a great start!
Let's play a little game. Imagine that you have a choice of:
$3 million in cash this very instant
OR
a single penny that doubles in value every day for 31 days. Which would you choose?
If you chose the penny, you're going to be very pleased with yourself because on Day 31 you'd have $10,737,418.24!
It's the 'magic' of compounding and what I call
The Exponential Growth Principle. Which, when applied to training and development, is a reminder that consistent action toward personal or professional goals, nets big rewards.
Spend 1% a day (15 minutes)
taking action and in 70 days you're twice improved.
Here's how Comedian Jerry Seinfeld used this principle to improve his comedic skills. As a young comic he knew he needed to develop better jokes, and the best way to do that is to write every day. To stay focused on his goal he placed a large calendar where he'd see it several times a day. Every day that he met his writing goal he placed a big
red X on the calendar.
Seinfeld explained how this helped,
"After a few days you have a red chain as you move from day to day. Just keep at it and the chain grows longer. You start to like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Then your only job is to not break the chain. Don't Break the Chain!"
I used this to create my habit of daily
Tune In Time, which for me is a minimum of 15 minutes of 'quiet' time every day, something I wanted to do but I never seemed to get around to actually doing!
I placed a simple index card on my bedside table and marked it every time I met my goal. When I'd get distracted the index card would pull me back to my commitment. Today, many years after that experiment, daily Tune In Time is like brushing my teeth and hair; I never have a day where I don't do it!
Bottom Line: To improve in any area of your life do a 'little something' every day, and track it.
The Exponential Growth Principle is a reminder that small efforts add up, result in big movement and new habits. Remember the penny? It's simple and it works. Try it and net big rewards!
"Life rewards effort, exponentially. No matter how small the
effort, nor how daunting the odds. That's a lot!" The Universe
The Exponential Growth Principle in Action: An Amazing & Beautiful Transformation
Helping Leaders, Trainers and Consultants Build the Energy, Commitment and Communication in Organizations
