Personal development books have changed my entire life. I thought they were a load of crap. I was initially embarrassed to read “self help” books, but I did it anyway. You see I started reading these when I was 24 years old and I had just started Beachbody coaching. Personal development was one of their vital behaviors, so I did it because you were supposed to, not because I actually thought it would work.
The first book I read was You are a Badass by Jen Sincero. It took me a while to read, but once I read it, I found myself looking for my next read. I never had some huge epiphany, but slowly, over time, my perspective on life, changed. How I thought about and handled situations went from defense and jealous to more understanding and rational. The little stuff I learned to let go of. I decided life was happening FOR me, not TO me. I realized I was holding myself back.
One of those books, really changed HOW I approach my day and what actions I take in life and more specifically, my business. The Compound Effect, by Darren Hardy, focuses on taking small, seemingly insignificant actions that will create huge rewards. You are to take 100 percent responsibility for everything that happens to you. Small choices + consistency + time = significant results.
Let’s take a look at some of the key principles from the book and how this can impact, positively or negatively, your business.
Consistency is the ultimate key to success.
I believe this to be true with my whole heart. Being consistent builds trust. It creates habits (these can be both positive or negative). My favorite example of this is related to your health and fitness. If you consistently eat healthy and workout 3-5x a week, you’re likely going to gain muscle and/or lose weight depending on your goals. But if you only eat 1 healthy meal a day, and workout 1 day a week, you likely won’t reach your goals (or at least not very quickly). Success comes with those consistent actions in everything you do.
The first step toward change is awareness. The best way to become aware is to measure. Writing it all down is key.
Are you aware of how much time you spend on your business building activities, and how much time you waste on other things? A lot of times we don’t realize where all of our time is going until we track it. Take a couple days and write down every single thing you do. I’ll be the first to admit - it was kind of embarrassing how much time I was wasting on social media and walking to the kitchen each day (lol).
Also, are you aware of how much time you have available in your business to add more clients? For me, most of my clients are hourly. I add up how much each client is contracted for and subtract that from the ideal number of hours I want to work each month (don’t forget to factor in your own business work hours too). That lets me know when and how many new clients I can take on.
Your life is a result of your moment to moment choices.
Read that again. MOMENT TO MOMENT. One MOMENT can change it all. Wow. This one stuck with me. Since I’m an optimist, I believe that you have the power to change your life in one single moment. Make a decision to change it then take action. Think about the choices you make in the moment each day and then think of the trajectory of your life if those choices were consistent. Each the banana or each the pizza. Watch another episode of Grey’s Anatomy, or write the dang blog post. Play with your cute adorable new puppy, or…. No you always play with the puppy. So what is the next choice you’re going to make and is that small, seemingly insignificant action going to benefit you in the future?
Small choices + consistency + time = significant results.
Do you remember the old childhood story about the tortoise and the hare? The point of that story was “slow and steady wins the race” right? That’s kind of how I view Hardy’s point about small choices + consistency + time = significant results. You take the small daily action that gets you one step closer to your goal - even if it feels like you’re not where the others are, or even if it doesn’t feel like it’s doing any good at the time. Then over time you’ll find it will yield significant results. I like to call this the “long game”. Our society is so focused on quick wins and quick results that we often forget about the “long game” approach that is so needed for long-term success. Think about the one small action you could be doing daily that will help you get to your end goal.
You need a deep why for doing stuff. With a why that is meaningful enough, you will do almost anything.
You probably hear this all the time “what’s your why?” or “dig deep” to find your true why/passion. But the real question is what is going to keep you going when the going gets tough? Your “why” is just your reason(s) for starting your business, why you aren’t working for someone else and just staying content. I know your dream is bigger than that. But WHY? Is it because you’re tired of the corporate politics? Is it because you NEED the extra income for your family? Maybe this job is the only thing that your family has right now and it HAS to work. Maybe you’ve experienced something in your life that was not okay, so your mission is to create change for those behind you. Whatever it is, think about what keeps you going each day. It has to be deeper than surface level so you don’t give up.
Identify your triggers for your bad habits: the who, what, where, and when that prompts you to start your bad habits. Then eliminate the triggers.
Bad habits can be hard to break - but if we’re being honest, we all have them. Nobody’s perfect. But we can either just accept that we have that bad habit, or we can acknowledge it and work on changing it. Figuring out the trigger for your habits can be hard - it takes total AWARENESS, but once you notice you’re doing it think of how you started, where you were, how you were feeling and ask yourself question after question until you get to the root of the habit and need for doing it. Journal on it. Then, once you identify the trigger(s) pick something else to do when that trigger happens. You’ll have to reprogram your brain to elicit a different response from the initial trigger. Deep breathing is a great thing to start with, or moving your body to music, going on a short walk or calling a friend. Once you change your reaction to the trigger the habit will start to change as well.
Do you feel ready to multiply your success? All it takes is a little bit of action - consistently to change your business and your life. If you want to purchase the book, you can do so here on Amazon.
Katelyn Hamilton is an Online Business Manager and Get Your Sh!t Together Strategist. She helps busy entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to out-in-front.
After spending 6 years in the corporate world working with multimillion dollar companies, top-rated chefs and celebrities, she launched her own business to find more flexibility and freedom. She matched her corporate salary in just one year of starting her business.
Katelyn is also a wife, stepmom, dog mama of two furry friends, fitness lover, sports fanatic (Go Dawgs) and dreams of living at the beach.
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