I have been reading this book I recently purchased on and placed on my Kindle books library titled
'The Compound Effect' Although this book is focused on business success it talks about many things that lead to success or failure in any aspect of life. This book was written by Darren Hardy who is the publisher of Success Magazine. Here is a powerful excerpt about how the choices you make on a daily basis regarding your nutrition intake can have a significantly powerful positive impact on your life and health or a tragic outcome to your life and health.
"the Compound Effect can.. work in a negative way and can create a ripple effect that impacts your entire life. (Here is the story): Bard makes some muffins from a recipe he learned from the Food Channel. He's proud and his family loves it, and it seems to add value all around. He loves his own cooking and eats more than his share- but not so much that anyone notices. However, the extra food makes Brad sluggish at night. He wakes up a little groggy, which makes him cranky. The crankiness and sleep-deprivation begin to impact his work performance. He’s less productive, and as a result, gets discouraging feedback from his boss. By the end of the day, he feel dissatisfied with his job and his energy level is way down. The commute home seems longer and more stressful than ever. All of this makes him reach for more comfort food—stress has a way of doing that. The overall lack of energy makes Brad less likely to take walks with his wife, like he used to. He just doesn’t feel like it. She misses their time together and takes his withdrawal personally. With fewer shared activities with his wife and an absence of fresh air and exercise, Brad’s not getting the endorphin release that had helped make him feel upbeat and enthusiastic. Because he’s not as happy, he starts finding fault with himself and others, and stops complimenting his wife. As his own body starts to feel flabby, he feels less self-confident, less attractive and becomes less romantic. Brad doesn’t realize how his lack of energy and affection toward his wife affects her. He just knows that he feels funky. He starts losing himself in late-night TV because it’s easy and distracting. Feeling his distance, Brad’s wife starts to complain, then becomes needy. When that doesn’t work, she emotionally withdraws to protect herself. She’s lonely. She pours her energy into her work and spends more time with her girlfriends to fulfill her need for companionship. Men start flirting with her, which makes her feel desirable again. She would never cheat on Brad, but he has a feeling something’s wrong. Instead of seeing that his poor choices and behaviors are at the root of their problems, he finds fault with his wife. Believing that the other person is wrong rather than looking inside and doing the work necessary to clean up your mess is basic Psychology 101 stuff. In Brad’s case, he doesn’t know to look inside—they don’t offer self-improvement or relationship advice on Top Chef or his favorite crime shows. However, the thought may have occurred to him that, if he had read the personal-development books his buddy Scott read, he might have learned about ways to change negative habits. Unfortunately for Brad, the small choices he made on a daily basis created a ripple that wreaked havoc on every area of his life.
So the moral of the story is obvious. Brad made some choices on a daily basis. He made the choices but those choices eventually made him. He became a person he was no longer proud of. It cost him his health, self-confidence, his work ethic, his feelings toward people and his whole life in general. He fails to realize that the problem is not them but rather him. The key thing he also fails to do is take personal responsibility for his actions. It's so much easier to blame people and circumstance for the outcome of our life because it takes no effort and it's easier to blame others. It's harder to face our inner demons and confront our faults and flaws. When you make it a choice to take 100% responsibility for what happens in life, you prepare yourself to make choices which will improve all aspects of your life. Taking self-responsibility for your choices is not enough though. Once you realize this you have to initiate action and continue working on healthy choices to make a drastically positive impact on your overall life. Every small progressive step you take toward making things right and better has a compound effect that you won't regret. You will be able to look back and see all that you have accomplished and it will seem less of a chore to continue to take more actions over a period of time to create a compound outcome. You will use your time more wisely. Remember this. You can make more after you lose it, you can rebuild a home after it's come to the ground but you can never make more time or build more time. You can't borrow time. Time wasted is time lost forever.
Source: Hardy, Darren (2011-11-01). The Compound Effect (pp. 14-15). Vanguard Press. Kindle Edition.
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