The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy [Book Summary]

8 min readApr 14, 2019

Have you ever have these BIG GOALS like losing weight, earning X amount of money or build your own business? You are so pumped up that you have set your plans and excited to take charge. You feel that by hustling and following your passion will shorten your path to your goals.

But after some time, those big and bold steps became harder and harder to achieve. You feel frustrated because it seems nothing is happening. You became complacent. You lose your so-called “passion and hustling”. You started to blame the how-to books you read and the seminars you attended and called them BS. In the end, you give up and forget everything you started.

We all fall on this trap. “We’ve been conditioned by society to believe in the effectiveness of great display of massive effort.” (The Compound Effect, p.16)

Little did we know, there is an invisible force that is always in effect but the payoff is significant in the long run called the Compound Effect.

In his book The Compound Effect, Darren Hardy tells us that the small choices we make, either consciously or unconsciously, when done consistently can lead to habits does produce The Compound Effect over time.

He emphasized, that whether we choose to make it work for us or we ignore it, the Compound Effect is always working. To maximize the Compound Effect in a positive way, Darren Hardy shares the lessons and best practices he actually executes.

Choice

The Compound effect, though simple, is so powerful that it works either in a positive way or in a negative way. Whatever the result is, it all starts with our choice. The biggest challenge we encounter is that we often unintentionally” make bad choices. Nobody wants to become obese, be bankrupt or get a divorce right?

So to make a positive difference in our life, we must “consciously” make choices to change. Hardy suggested ways to start with.

Have A Thank You Journal. Write down the things you are grateful for, no matter how small or how big. By choosing to focus on the positive side of your situation, it creates a ripple effect on people around you.

Take Ownership. Whatever results you got from the choices you made, you must take responsibility for your life. No finger pointing. No blaming. You are alone responsible for what you do, don’t do or how you respond to what’s done to you.

“The day you graduate from childhood to adulthood is the day you take full responsibility for your life.” — Jim Rohn

Track every action. To help you become aware of your choices, you must track every action on areas you want to improve i.e. your daily expenses, the number of kilometers you run or the number of pages in the book you read, etc.

Start early. Start Now. The earlier you start making the small changes, the more powerfully the Compound Effect works in your favor. According to Brian Tracy, if you commit yourself 1% each day, you will improve 1000% in 365 days or one year.

Habit

“We are what we repeatedly do” — Aristotle

Humans are a creature of habit. In order to maximize the potential of the Compound Effect, we must build good habits to improve our lives. This can be done by:

Stay away of Instant Gratification Trap. Beware of your “microwave mentality” for insta-results. There is no magic pill or silver bullets.

You must know your BIG why. Changing habits can be tough in the long run. When you feel you are about to give up or lose track, remember the reason why you get started.

Define Your Core Values. Every choice you made depends on the core values. It sets as your criteria in whatever decision-making you need to do.

Set goals. When you set goals, write it down. Define your goals clearly.

Now that you know how habits can be achieved, it’s time to take some action. According to Hardy that to developed habits, you need to “uproot those sabotaging habits and plant new, positive and healthy ones in the place.”

Five Strategies for Eliminating Bad Habits

Identify your triggers. What emotions tend to provoke your worst habits? When do you experience those emotions? Who are you with? Where are you? What are you doing? Whatever triggers your bad habits, write it down.

Get rid of the triggers. Clean House. Now that you have listed your triggers, get rid of them. Dispose of anything that will remind you of your bad habits whether it is a bottle of alcohol or negative Facebook post.

Choose a healthy alternative. If you cannot get rid of the triggers, replace it with healthier habits. Instead of eating chips while watching Netflix, grab fruits instead.

Cut it slowly. If it takes 17 years for you to create that bad habit, don’t expect that you can eliminate it in 7 days. It takes time. Slowly but surely.

Don’t wait too long. Jump in. Decide to change your bad habit NOW.

Six Techniques for Installing Good Habits

Set yourself up to success. If you want to start eating healthy foods, set up a fruit basket with apples on the table. If you want to reduce your habit of browsing Facebook the moment you wake up, put the phone in a place where you can’t reach it the moment you wake up. Devise a way that it will make it easy for you to do good habits or make it hard for you to do bad habits.

Think Addition, Not Subtraction. Instead of thinking “I need to remove this or stop doing this” which leads to the feeling of deprivation, try thinking of what alternative activity you can do. Create a positive mental escape from your bad habits.

Go for PDA: Public Display of Accountability. Make a declaration. Tell your family and friends. It feels like you created a deadline for yourself and everyone who cares are waiting for it.

Find A Success Buddy. Have an accountability partner. A person who will remind you of your goals, celebrate with your wins, provide feedback and will keep you on track.

Competition and Camaraderie. If you are the type of person who gets motivated in competition, then this is for you. Have a contest with your friends, colleagues, and teammates.

Celebrate! Reward yourself. Celebrate small wins. It’s called a confidence booster.

“The truth is, you can change habit in a second or you can still be trying to break it after ten long years. The first time you touched a hot stove, you instantly knew you’d never make that habit! The shock and pain was so intense that it forever changed your awareness; you knew you’d be conscious for the rest of your life around hot stoves.” — Darren Hardy

Now that you have made the choice to eliminate bad habits and start creating good habits consistently, it’s time to keep the ball rolling. It’s time to keep Big Mo — Momentum.

Momentum

The first step is always the hardest. That’s why, the moment you start moving, you keep yourself moving. No matter how slow the progress it seems. And there no other simple way to achieve momentum by “developing a routine of predictable, daily disciplines that prepares you to be victorious on the battlefield of life.”

Bookend Your Days

Rev up your morning routine. Attune to Abundance Mindset. Think of all the things you are grateful for. Send love to someone. The way to get love is to give love. Think of the №1 Goal and decide which your top three MVP’s (Most Valuable Priorities) you need to do to move closer to your daily goal.

Cash out your day’s performance. Compare and evaluate your day’s performance vs. the goals you set.Log in your journal any new idea that pops up during the day. Read at least ten pages of an inspirational book before going to sleep.

Shake it Up. From time to time, interrupt your routines. Try something new. Try something fresh.

Rhythm

Get into the rhythm to find your new groove. Commit yourself to be consistent. Register your rhythm and keep on track of your new behavior. Set a schedule and build a program relevant to your new goals.

Influences

Everyone is affected by 3 kinds of influences.

Input -what you feed to yourself

“Your mind is like an empty glass, it’ll hold anything you put into it. Garbage in, garbage out.”

Stand Guard. Eliminate negative input. Put yourself in a media diet. Limit your exposure to “dirty water” that sucked your energy, hampers your thinking or crushed your spirit.

Enroll in Drive-Time U. Read inspirational books. Listen to podcasts of the topic that you want. Enroll in courses to develop yourself.

Associations — the people you spend time with

According to Jim Rohn, we become the combined average of the 5 people we hand around the most. Consider evaluation, reappraising and reprioritizing people you spend time with into 3 categories.

Disassociations. These are the people you need to break away from completely who negatively impacts your life.

Limited Associations. People you spend a limited time with. People who neither impact your life positively or negatively.

Expanded Associations. Reach out to people who have positive qualities in the areas of life you want to improve. Find — Peak Performance Partner who is equally committed as you. Invest in mentorshipJoin a group of Like-Minded People

Environment — Your Surrounding

When you change your view, you change your perspective. Create an environment that supports your goals. Protect your emotional, mental and physical space so you can live with peace.

Acceleration

To accelerate the process of compound effect and multiply your results, you must

Go above and beyond when you hit the wall. Hardy calls this the “moment of truth” that whoever breaks this point will receive huge results.

Beat the expectation of others. Where and how you can create “wow” moments?

Do the unexpected. Where can you differentiate from what is common, normal or expected?

Conclusion

Now that you know that change does not happen overnight but because of the small acts we continuously do overtime, thus result, to Compound Effect. Even though there are circumstances that are beyond our control, we can make the Compound Effect our ally by the one thing we have control — choice. As Darren Hardy said,

Small, Smart Choice + Consistency + Time = RADICAL DIFFERENCE

Book Mentioned in the Book

My Personal Favorite Quote of the Book

What excites me about this reality, however, is that if change were easy, and everyone were doing it, it would be much more difficult for you and for me to stand out and become an extraordinary success. Ordinary is easy. Extra-ordinary is what will separate you from the crowd.– Darren Hardy
What’s simple to do is also simple not to do. — Jim Rohn