I was watching TV recently and there was a show on called Million Dollar Outdoor Spaces. It was basically a tour of millionaires who have turned their homes into some sort of awesome resort. One guy had 4 separate pools complete with a lazy river, swim up bar, and 40′ water slide. Another had a full size basketball court flanked by a two story fitness center. These spaces were incredible!
I can’t help but imagine what my dream resort home would be like (it would definitely include a lazy river by the way). It’s a fun thing to daydream about.
But sooner or later my daydreams start to turn back to reality.
How could I ever afford this? How could I ever create that much income? I’m so very far away from that it’s absurd to even consider.
I know I always tell myself that I can do anything, but that just seems crazy. The gap between where I am now and where I want to be is just so great – it’s disheartening at times.
I think most of us get this far. We’ve all felt like this.
But what can you possibly do to bridge the gap between where you are now and where you want to be?
The good news
Good news, Darren Hardy taught me that you don’t have to muster up some herculean effort to reach these big goals. You don’t have to grunt and strain and struggle to put forth some massive effort only to have to turn around and try it again.
All you really need is to take small, consistent actions towards crossing the gap every single day. These small actions (the right ones) over time will compound and take you farther than you ever thought possible.
The hard part is sticking with it for a looooong time. Just like compound interest, the effects are barely noticeable for quite some time, but by the time things start to take off there’s nothing that can catch it!
Example
Let’s take this trivial example: You and your co-worker have been doing the same job for years and live pretty similar lives. Last January you made a resolution to read 30 min of positive, educational material every single day. Your co-worker decided to devote 30 min a week to his new online poker hobby.
That might not seem like much of a difference, but one year later you will have spent over 180 hours reading educational material, and your coworker will have spent zero.
Compile this for a few years and you’ll be on a completely different level!
This is the power of The Compound Effect that Darren Hardy teaches. And this is how it’s done.
In real life
So what should you be doing? Well, assuming you have a vision of what you want your life to look like, start taking baby steps to get there. It doesn’t have to be anything big, scary, or hard. It doesn’t even have to be the right step. Just find something small and get going.
Want to be an author? Find some authors and publishers online to follow and start learning about what it takes to be successful.
Want to start your own business? There’s a tremendous selection of business books on nearly everything these days. Pick one up and start reading.
Imagine where you could be one year from now if you just invest a little bit of time consistently this year. Who knows, maybe that gap isn’t as big as you thought it was!
Where are you going to start?
