How Can You Use the Compounding Effect to Achieve What You Want?

If you’re like me, you have plenty of improvement goals. I have personal, professional, and office-cleanup goals. (Since my office appears to be a perennial mess, I count that as a separate and very subsidiary goal.) I often use the compounding effect to make those improvements.

The compounding effect works very well for money. Put some money into an account with some return, don’t touch it, and watch it grow. Over time, your money will double and then double again, depending on your rate of return.

But human-based improvement is different. We can still use the compounding effect, but we must act, not leave our good intentions alone. Improvement requires action.

Even if we act most of the time, sometimes we stop our improvement. For example, I often pause my various improvements on vacation.

Sometimes, we decide we no longer want to work on this particular improvement. We stop the actions for that compounding effect. If you’re like me, you might decide to improve something else.

But even if we continue to practice with intent, sometimes, we reach a plateau. I recently reached a plateau with my writing. But that’s because I noticed when the compounding effect stopped.

Data Helps Us Notice Compounding Effects

I live by the idea of measuring both what I want and don’t want. (Yes, I wrote that in several of my books!) I’m not sure I’m the “Queen” of spreadsheets, but I have many.

I have a personal spreadsheet to track my sleep and weight. While my height does not change, my weight is liable to change—especially on vacation. That’s why I sighed when I got on the scale this morning, back from vacation. I suspected I would see the compounding effects of desserts on vacation—and I did. Now I have the information I need to adjust my eating habits.

But I also use the compounding effects for professional goals. For writing, I use a spreadsheet with weekly, monthly, and yearly data to see where I am for each kind of writing. I noticed my fiction words were lower in the past couple of months than in the previous few months. I had the data I needed to consider what might cause those changes.

While you might not prefer spreadsheets as I do, we all need objective data. Gut feel is insufficient if we want to use the compounding effect, especially if you want to move off a plateau. That’s because data helps us choose our next actions.

Choose Actions Based on Data

In the past, I used classical music with no words to accompany my writing timeboxes. My favorite is Yo-Yo Ma’s Bach Cello Suites.

But even with Ma’s music, my fiction writing was slower than I expected. Part of my slowness is because I’m experimenting with genres I don’t read. That means I don’t know the tropes yet, and it takes me a while to write a good story. And part of my slowness is that my fiction writing muscles are (still) weaker than my nonfiction writing muscles. I’ve used the compounding effect on my nonfiction for decades longer than my fiction.

So I changed from my beloved Bach to writing to rain. I’m also shortening my writing timeboxes to stay focused. However, I’m not reading those genres yet, because I still have too many books I want to read. What will that do to my compounding effect? I’ll need a few more weeks to see what’s working.

Start with Data, Create Experiments (Actions), and Reassess

To improve something, pick a specific goal. To see the compounding effect, gather relevant data. Then, if you notice you’re no longer improving, consider some small experiments—actions—and see what happens with your data.

You always can choose what to experiment with and for how long. But I try to use the compounding effect, especially if I’m stuck on a plateau. That helps me meet those improvement goals and continue to the next. You might find the same.

Announcements…

Successful Independent Consulting is out everywhere. I just realized today that I want to change the eventual workshops for that book, so stay tuned.

And, I have a new self-study class (with optional coaching from me): Write a Conference Proposal the Conference Wants and Accepts.

Data Helps Us Notice Compounding Effects

Choose Actions Based on Data

Start with Data, Create Experiments (Actions), and Reassess

Announcements…

Read More of Create an Adaptable Life

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