Darren Hardy’s Compound Effect is in my favourite class of

productivity books: it’s concise, it’s next-action focussed and it

comes with a ton of free templates that are worth 10x the cost of
the book.

It also reinforces a message I’ve seen, learned and taught time and
again.

Big results don’t come from grand talk or gestures. Big results
come from clarity plus small, deliberate actions – made and
repeated until actions reap a habit, habits reap a character and
character reaps a destiny.

In other words, the tortoise ALWAYS beats the hare. And when
you think you’ve seen otherwise, you’ve invariably confused the
last lunge for the finish with the journey that led to its end.

Of course, the “What?” is always simpler than the “How?”. Luckily,

this is precisely where The Compound Effect really shines. What
follows below is my brief synthesis of the lessons you’ll find in the
book. But for anyone serious about jumpstarting their income,
their life and their success – I’d suggest grabbing your own
copy here.

CHAPTER 1: THE COMPOUND EFFECT

The Compound Effect “is the principle of reaping huge rewards
from a series of small, smart choices,” made consistently, over a
long period of time.

For example, would you rather have (A) $3 million upfront or (B)
one penny that doubles in value every day for 31 days?

To maximise your gains, the correct answer is (B). But it doesn’t

happen quickly. After 19 days you’d still only have $5,243 and you
might feel pretty foolish next to a friend who chose option (A).

It’s not until day 29 that the compounding gains of option (B) net
you $3 million. And by day 30 your patience would have tripled
option (A)’s total takings. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1: The
magic penny example demonstrates the compound effect in action.
This example shows the power and subtlety of compounding.

The choices that lead to life-altering change are, on the surface,

disarmingly small. The good ones are easy to overlook and the
bad ones are easy to forgive. What’s more, cause and effect are so
distant that they’re hard to connect. Compounding requires
enormous amounts of patience and faith.

And that’s a problem because humans aren’t programmed for

patience or faith. We’re programmed for instant gratification. And
that programming runs deep. In the uncertain world of our
ancestors, passing up chances to flee, feed or fornicate were
shortcuts to physical or genetic death. Even today, the social
pressure to keep up with peers, even when we know we’re
making poor long-term decisions, is an almost invincible
addiction.

But compounding is real. And it’s powerful. And it’s defining the
course of your life, right now, both for and against you, based on
every decision you make.

So, what’s the first step to tip the balance in your favour?

The answer is to take full responsibility for your life.

Think about it – if small choices made consistently lead to big

outcomes, it follows that many big outcomes come down to small
choices.

The 10 minutes you read before bed. The 15 minutes you snooze
in the morning. The 100 calories you don’t need at lunch.

Every thought you repeatedly have, every impulse you often

indulge, every decision you consistently make contributes to
some kind of compounding.

Even if you can’t match cause with effect your life is the product
of your choices.
ACTION STEPS:

• Decide to take full ownership of your life – even if you

can’t explain how you got here.
• Write down 6 seemingly inconsequential positive steps
you can start doing daily.
• Identify 6 seemingly inconsequential negative actions
you can put a stop to.
• Identify any areas of life where you’ve enjoyed success
in the past but may have become complacent and are no
longer improving.

CHAPTER 2: CHOICES
So if it all comes down to the choices we make, how do we get
better at making them?

The answer, like compounding, is disarmingly simple: stop living

on autopilot and start making conscious decisions.

Choose gratitude.

Choose 100% responsibility for your relationships.

Choose 100% responsibility for your setbacks and the lessons

they’ll teach you.

Choose 100% responsibility for your luck. Remember always that

“Luck = Preparation + Attitude + Opportunity + Action” and that
you can choose to influence or neglect each part of that sum.

Choose to make conscious choices about even (especially) the

smallest of choices in any part of life you want to transform.

How? “You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” so choose

to start tracking every action in the part of life that you’re
focusing on.
Want to lose weight? Track your weight. Track your
measurements. Track your calories. Track your steps. Track the
minutes you exercise each day. Track anything and everything
that compounds you towards or away from your goals.

Start slowly. Track one habit for one week. Then add to your list
until there’s not a choice, big or small, you don’t know about.

At first, you’ll be shocked. Not just at the state of your choices but
also at how hard it is to stay conscious of them. But before long
you’ll be surprised then delighted at the power of clarity in
shaping your actions.

The most important choices of all? Choose to start early.

Choose to start now.

Because the sooner you start making conscious choices, the

sooner you can turn those choices back into habits.

And that’s when the real magic begins.

ACTION STEPS:

• Identify the one area of life you’re struggling most with

and start journalling all the things you’re grateful for
about it.
• Identify and assess an area of life you want to change
and that you’re not taking 100% responsibility for.
• Start tracking at least one behaviour in one area of your
life you’d like to change and improve.

CHAPTER 3: HABITS
Habits are “an acquired mode of behaviour that has become nearly
or completely involuntary.” They’re choices on autopilot. And they
grow stronger with each repetition.

Most people let their habits form unconsciously. Those habits

then dictate the choices that determine the course of their lives.
Taking control of your life means mastering your habits. It means
taking full responsibility for creating good habits while removing
the bad ones.

To Take Responsibility for your Habits:

1. Acknowledge the power of habits in light of the

compound effect;
2. Determine a powerfully motivating “Why?” for
changing your behaviour;
3. Set effective goals and clearly visualize what success
looks like;
4. Identify and remove the bad habits holding you back
from your goals; and
5. Identify and create the good habits you’ll need to reach
your goals.
To Determine a Powerfully Motivating “Why?”:

• Define your core values – see Darren’s Core Values

Assessment (one of the many excellent free
downloadable templates that come with the book);
• Draw on love and enmity – inspiration doesn’t need to
be noble, just to motivate; or
• Set concise, compelling and awe-inspiring goals –
see Darren’s Goal Designing Cheatsheet in the templates
above).
To Eliminate Bad Habits:

1. Identify your triggers – what, who, when or where are

the triggers that kick-off the behaviour you want to
stop?
2. Eliminate those triggers from your environment –
make friction your friend to prevent undesirable action;
 3. Substitute with a reward that has the same effect –
want to feel good? Call a friend instead of eating a
cookie; and then
4. Either: Ease into your new reward – some habits are
easier to change by cutting them down slowly.
5. Or: Make a hard change – others are more easier to
dislodge with a quick decisive tug at the roots.
N.B., You may not want to totally eliminate all your vices – and
that’s OK! If there’s something you enjoy – but know can get out
of control – periodically abstain from it for a 30-day period to
prove to it and yourself that you’re still the one driving.

To Create Good Habits:

1. Start Strongly – your motivation will never be higher

than it is on day 1 – start as you mean to go on;
2. Set Yourself Up to Succeed – make friction your friend
by eliminating as many barriers between you and your
desired action as possible;
3. Think Addition, Not Subtraction – focus on what your
new habit will add to your life instead of worrying about
what you’ll be losing;
4. Make a Public Commitment – create your own peer
pressure and use it to steer you in the right direction;
5. Find a Success Buddy – create accountability by
checking in with a coach or success buddy on a frequent
basis;
6. Set up Some Competition – even the challenge of
beating your own streaks and records can be enough to
get you through a tough day; and
7. Celebrate – training your brain is much like training a
dog so don’t underestimate the power of small, simple
rewards for good behaviour.
And remember: Change is hard, and that’s a good thing.
Be patient with yourself, stick with it, don’t get distracted and stay
focussed on the simple but profound disciplines that lead to
success.

ACTION STEPS:

• Identify your three best habits you can learn from, three
worst habits you need to stop and three new habits you
want to start;
• Identify your core motivation;
• Practice designing concise, compelling and awe-
inspiring goals.

CHAPTER 4: MOMENTUM
Consistency and persistence are critical ingredients in
compounding.

But making active daily decisions and deliberately changing your

habits is hard. It’s easy to fall off the wagon. And it’s precisely at
moments like these where momentum will give you an edge.

You’ll recognise momentum when it feels weird not to do

something that’s become a regular part of your day. It’s the gyro
that keeps you upright when you wobble. It’s the wind that lifts
you over your hurdles.

How can you create it? One powerful way is to master your daily
routines. And the most important routines are ones at the start
and the end of your day.

As long as you control your mornings and evenings you know you
can start and end strong. And a strong start and finish are your
best chance at consistently winning.

For practical guidance, I’ve written at length about morning

routines here and you can check out Darren’s own two-hour ritual
below:
 • 5:00: Wake Up (8 mins)
o Reflect on three things I’m grateful for;
o Visualise sending love to the people around
me; and
o Visualise my number 1 goal and 3 actions to
progress it.
• 5:08 Get up (12 mins)
• 5:20 Stretch (10 mins)
• 5:30 Read (30 mins)
• 6:00 Deep work (60 mins)
• 7:00 Calibrate (15 mins)
o Review big picture goals; and
o Set 3 most important tasks for today.
Darren’s evening routine is much simpler and follows three steps:

1. Compare actuals with plan – Ask: How did today go

compared to how I thought it would go? Why?
2. Reflect on new ideas and insights – Ask: What did I
learn today? What can I use to make tomorrow better?
3. Read 10 pages of an inspirational book – If you’re
stuck for ideas, you’ll find plenty of suggestions here.
An interesting point: If you notice something in your rituals that
used to energise you but is no longer generating powerful results,
don’t be afraid to change up your routine. Your rituals are there
to help you so don’t let rigid thinking get in the way of a good
outcome.

Most important of all? Make your new habits and

rituals sustainable. Going from couch potato to 8 miles a day,
overnight is a guaranteed path to burn out and injury. That
inconsistency is very expensive. It takes a lot of energy to get a
derailed train back on the tracks.
The same lesson goes for your routines. Sustainability leads to
consistency, consistency creates momentum and momentum
makes it easy to stick to your rhythm.

In other words: be realistic and ease into your new lifestyle

gradually.

ACTION STEPS:

• Build your bookend evening and morning routines.

• List three areas of life where you’re not consistent
enough. What has this cost you? Decide to be consistent
from now on.
• Create a rhythm register and write down a half-dozen
key behaviours.

CHAPTER 5: INFLUENCES
Change is a hard enough challenge without trying to paddle
upstream. That’s why, one of the most important steps you can
take to jumpstart your success is to consciously tailor the
information, associations and environment that you swim in.

Take Control of Information

Your brain is an information processing machine: garbage in,
garbage out.

Darren’s solution? To change the quality of your thinking,

change the quality of your inputs with these two fool-proof wins:

1. Guard Against Garbage – Put yourself on a media diet

and stop reading news; and
2. Join Drive-Time U – Absorb audiobooks and courses
whenever you’re hands free.
Wherever you are, whatever you do, you are constantly
bombarded by data.
Make it your mission to replace as much of the hateful, harmful
and downright unhelpful sources as you can with healthy
alternatives for a wiser, happier existence.

Take Control of Your Associations

The people you associate with (your “reference group”)
determine as much as 95 per cent of your success or failure in life.

First, take control of your friendships:

1. Evaluate your current associations – Are you

surrounded by people who love, support and inspire
you? If not, why not?
2. Visualise your ideal associations – If you could bring
five imaginary friends to life, what or who would they
be like?
3. Weed out the worst ones completely – Where
immediate elimination is hard, find ways
to increasingly avoid or distance yourself from bad
actors.
4. Consciously limit what’s left – When it comes to loved
ones, quality is far more important than quantity.
5. Expand and replicate the best ones – Ask: Where
do people like my best friends hang out? How can I
make more friends like these?
Next, find yourself one or more peak-performance partners –
people who share the same goals, values and determination to
become their best selves as you do. Create a lasting bond of
accountability with weekly calls and messages to hold each other
accountable.

Finally, cultivate and invest in mentors and advisers. “Never

ask advice of someone with whom you wouldn’t want to trade
places.” And for the best results, find ways to seek help and advice
without making it a big time commitment for others. (N.B.,
mentorship can also be partly or completely indirect, through
books and audio programmes.)

Take Control of Your Environment

Last up on our checklist of influences is taking ruthless control of
your physical and mental environment.

Consciously take control of whatever surrounds you – physically,

emotionally and mentally – including (/especially) the place and
space where you live. (Did you know, for example, that an
additional 20 minutes commuting per day has the same negative
effect on job satisfaction as receiving a 19% pay cut?)

Eliminate all the incomplete, poisonous clutter

(both mental and physical) that you can from your life.

And remember: “You will get in life what you accept and expect you
are worthy of.”

ACTION STEPS:

• Identify the influence of media and information on your

life. Identify ways to protect it from negative and flush
it with positive information.
• Evaluate your current associations. Which must you
stop or limit? How will you expand your associations?
• Pick a peak performance partner and decide when, how
often, what to and how you’ll hold each other
accountable.
• Identify three areas of life you are most focused on
improving. Find and engage a mentor in each area of
those areas.

CHAPTER 6: ACCELERATION
Giving a little more energy or your thought to your efforts won’t
just improve your results, it will multiply them.
We all face moments of truth, or walls when it feels like there’s
nothing left to give.

Approach these moments not as obstacles, but as opportunities.

First, understand that it’s only after these walls that real growth
happens. Everything up to the wall was just a warm-up.

Second, know that everyone else is facing the same wall, and the
vast majority will give up, which is why the open plains success
lies on the other side of it.

Stand out from the crowd. Do the unexpected. Look for as many
opportunities to surprise and “WOW” others as you can with the
level, speed and originality of your accomplishments as possible.

Don’t just choose to meet expectations, choose to do better and

then choose to do better than that.

Take extraordinary action. Harness the compound effect. And

you’ll find yourself well on the way to jumpstarting your income,
your life and your success.

ACTION STEPS

• Identify times when you hit your moments of truth and

commit to pushing through them when you next get
there.
• Find three areas in your life where you can do “extra”
and make a plan to do more.
• Identify three areas in your life where you can beat
expectations then plan where and how to create “wow”
moments.
• Identify three ways you can do the unexpected. Where
can you differentiate from what is common, normal or
expected?

Conclusion
Darren Hardy’s Compound Effect is a powerful book with a simple
message – disarmingly small choices remade consistently over
time lead to life-altering changes, and those forces can work for
or against you.

Darren offers a simple 6-step process to help turn the tides in

your favour:

1. Accept the power of compounding;

2. Make and track conscious micro-choices;
3. Foster positive and banish bad habits;
4. Set up daily and weekly routines;
5. Optimise your environment; and
6. Take extraordinary action.
Simple, but not easy – which is why The Compound Effect is filled
with practical actions and templates (many of which you can
download for free from Darren’s website, here).

But now the ball’s in your court and your choice is

straightforward.

You can leave this summary and continue your life as it is; you can
sink back into your comfortable flow; you can leave your choices
to chance and in 5, 10 or 15 years, you can reap the haphazard
harvest that’s taken root in the garden of your life.

Or you can choose ONE thing that you’ve learned here today and
take action; you can put your fate in the power of compounding;
you can take responsibility for the forces that are shaping your
future and you can decide to become more extraordinary.