Think about what you can add in, not take out. Instead of saying “I want to stop watching TV for 3 hours a day” ask yourself what you would want to do with 3 hours of free time if you had it. Then focus on this. Remove people. There are some people you might need to break away from completely. Determine the quality of life you want to have, and then surround yourself with the people who represent and support that vision. I’m constantly weeding out people who refuse to grow and live positively. If there’s a discrepancy between what you say and what you do, I’m going to believe what you do every time. The payoff or instant gratification derived from bad habits often far outweighs what’s going on in your rational mind concerning long-term consequences. As the central curator of the success media industry for over 25 years, author Darren Hardy has heard it all, seen it all, and tried most of it. This book reveals the core principles that drive success. The Compound Effect contains the essence of what every superachiever needs to know, practice, and master to obtain extraordinary success. Inside you will find strategies on:

This is my book summary of The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. My notes are informal and often contain quotes from the book as well as my own thoughts. This summary also includes key lessons and important passages from the book. Asks If I only did three things today, what are the actions that will produce the greatest results in moving me closer to my big goals?Example: Larry Bird was one of the most consistent free-throw shooters in the history of the NBA. Growing up, his habit was to practice 500 free-throw shots every morning before school. If you say self-improvement is a priority, but you spend more time with your Xbox than at the library, I’m believing the Xbox. Basically, if you've never read a self-help book before, you'll find a few good pointers here.There's a foreword by Tony Robbins, and to be honest, that is the only thing that keeps this book on the honest side of things. Without that foreword, this looks like copy/paste of someone taking one or two notes while listening to Tony's Personal Power II.

Darren Hardy". Smart Books. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014 . Retrieved 11 April 2013. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge.” - Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Avoid finger pointing, victimhood, blaming, and expecting someone else to solve your problems. You alone are responsible for what you do, don’t do, or how you respond to what’s done to you. There is a difference between learning and studying. Learning leads to knowledge. Studying a topic means you are invested in it and try it out. The world already has tons of knowledge. You don’t need to learn more. What you need is to study, to practice, and to take action on the knowledge you have. You should incorporate your new mindset and habits into a monthly, weekly, or daily routine to have powerful, everlasting change. Routines can encapsulate healthy behaviors in a sequence that is automatic and efficient. Routines that are predictable and followed will allow you to achieve the most significant goals.You → Choice (decision) + Behavior (Action) + Habit (repeated action) + Compounded (time) = Goals Breaking Bad Habits One Thanksgiving, I decided to keep a Thanks Giving journal for my wife. Every day for an entire year I logged at least one thing I appreciated about her - the way she interacted with her friends, how she cared for our dogs, the fresh bed she prepared, a succulent meal she whipped up, or the beautiful way she styled her hair that day - whatever.

In this chapter of the Compound Effect, Darren Hardy helps put your motivating choices to work with positive behaviors that, repeated over time, build good habits. Aristotle wrote, “We are what we repeatedly do.” Merriam-Webster defines a habit as follows:The compound effect is always working, and it will always take you somewhere. The question is, where? You must know where you want to go. What goals, dreams, and destinations do you desire? Something almost magical happens when you organize and focus your creative power on a well-defined target.

Mentorship – a relationship in which the individual with more experience, knowledge, and connections teaches and guides a more junior person; one should be willing to teach and be taught Example: I don’t watch or listen to any news and I don’t read any newspapers or news magazines. 99% of all news has no bearing on my personal life or my personal goals, dreams and ambitions anyway. I have set up a few RSS feeds identifying the news and industry updates that do pertain to my direct interests and goals. I get the most productive information I need when I need it, in less than 15 minutes a day. The Compound Effect is based on the principle that decisions shape your destiny. Little, everyday decisions will take you either to the life you desire or to disaster by default. This book is the distillation of the fundamental principles that have guided the most phenomenal achievements in business, relationships, and beyond. NOTE FROM DARREN Suppose you’ve always wanted to play the piano, but feel it’s too late because you’re about to turn forty. If you start now, by the time you’re retirement age, you could be a master, as you’ll have been playing for 25 years. The key is to start NOW.You alone are responsible for what you do, don’t do, and the attitude you have for what is being done to you. In the above scenario, if you choose the 2nd option, you might not see any significant improvement in the first few weeks because the compound effect takes so much longer to see the payoff i.e., by day 31, you have more than three times than the 1st option has offered. Montell Williams has an add-in principle where he focuses on adding something in to his life rather than what he is cutting out or sacrificing.