I’m going to talk to you about a life-changing book that I was lucky to have passed on to me by someone I consider very successful, The Compound Effect.

The Unexpected Encounter: A Journey to Phoenix, Arizona

I’ll tell you a little back story. I was on a flight to Phoenix, Arizona to work on some software for our marketing, and ended up getting lucky – I got an upgrade and was sitting next to a gentleman on the plane. Usually, I’ll try to talk a little bit and not spend too much time talking, but I could tell right away this guy was really smart and really successful.

We ended up talking about business the entire flight. He was on the way to an Inc. 5000 meeting where he was being recognized for being in the Inc. 5000, which is a huge accomplishment. Hopefully, I can get Michael Reese on this podcast, and thank him for introducing me to a book that really helped change my life and put me down the right path.

The book is called The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. If you haven’t read this book go out and get it! I think I’ve read it 10 times!

Unmasking Success: The Compound Effect

It’s one of those books where you can just start reading. You power through it and go back to reread chapters, things like that. I want to give you a little summary and some of the things that I got out of the book that really helped get me on the right path.

The biggest thing is accepting that you, alone, are responsible for what you do, don’t do, and how you respond to what’s done to you. A lot of times we lay blame on everybody else, it’s so and so’s fault this, so and so’s fault that. At the end of the day, really it all comes down to you. It’s like we have to take responsibility, set our goals, and then work to improve ourselves.

The Secret Sauce: Habits and Their Role in Success

That’s a huge thing about this book. It talks about habits and developing those habits to build you to the next level, just like compounded interest with investments. If you build good habits and compound them, your results are going to come even faster.

In the book, he breaks down your goals under business, finance, health, family, and lifestyle. If you can have goals for all those areas, and work to improve them, it’s going to make you a well-rounded person. It’ll help you get to that next level because anybody that knows how hard it is to get to that next level of breakout…it’s tough.

You need the support of your family and friends, a good lifestyle, business goals, and financial goals. You have to look at it in the big scheme. Who do I need to become? To get to that level, you have to become a lot more.

What you want to look at are those top five areas we talked about, and then set at least the top three goals for each of those areas. A huge thing that I got out of the book was that you have your three goals, you have your five areas, but then list the bad habits that are keeping you from progressing, and then list the good habits you have to adopt.

The Truth About Bad Habits and the Good Ones Needed for Success

Bad habits could be you want to be successful but you’re hanging out with a bunch of unsuccessful people. It’s going to be tough. You’ve got to get yourself in the right group, and around the right people, to be successful. You’re trying to lose weight, but you’re hanging out with a bunch of people and all they do is eat crappy food all the time.

It’s going to be super hard. Not using that as a judgmental thing, but if you want to get to the next level, you need to find people that are going to support what you want to do. That could be in any area of your life.

The Power of Influence: You’re the Average of Five People You Spend the Most Time With

The next part of the book that really hits home…it’s the same thing your mom and dad probably told you when you were a kid…you’re the average of the five people you’re around the most. You’ve got to look at who’s influencing you. For the five people you spend the most time with, list their positives or negatives.

I know sometimes we don’t want to list that. So and so’s been my friend for 30 years or 20 years or whatever, but everybody has positives, and everybody has negatives. If they do have a ton of negatives maybe you have to start weeding them out, hopefully not.

You can work around it and hopefully the good outweighs the bad, but sometimes you’re going to look at it and be like, “Man, I really don’t need to be around this person.” Everybody’s got that one friend whom you hang out with them, but you tend to get in more trouble, make bad decisions, and go down the wrong path.

Looking at that, who do you want to be around? Who’s influencing you? If you can’t be around ultra-successful people, then start listening to podcasts and reading books. Just do the best you can do to improve yourself so you can get to the next level for whichever area you’re going down.

This could be if you’re an entrepreneur if you’re a salesman if you’re a manager at a company. It’s like, if you want to get better, you have to keep pushing to get there.

Growth Partnerships: The Value of a Peak Performance Partner

Another huge thing, I personally do is have a peak performance partner, weekly. You need to have somebody you can share your wins with, your losses with, the things you fix, your aha moments, and your growth plan. If you have somebody you could talk to, it’s a lot easier because a lot of times it’s hard to find people that want to push as hard as we do.

When you’re trying to get to that next stage you have to keep pushing. So getting to that next level is tough, but if you have an accountability partner, somebody that holds you accountable, it’s like you feel guilty. Like, “Oh man, I didn’t get my stuff done! I have to get this done before we meet! I have to work on this. I have to push here to get this goal.” It really helps a lot to have an accountability partner.

That’s just a brief summary of The Compound Effect, what I took out of it, and some of the basic things. The book goes way deeper than that. The book is amazing. It’s a great read. It’s a great resource. Darren Hardy did an amazing job. Like I said, luckily I was able to be around somebody who’s super successful.

I could just tell the guy was successful. I asked him, and he told me, “if he gives kids one book, it’d be The Compound Effect.” I was like, “Man, I’m buying this book tomorrow.” I ordered it on Amazon, and I’ll never look back!

The Importance of Opening Up to New Experiences

You also have to open up yourself to new experiences. If you see somebody who’s successful, talk to him, ask him questions. One thing though, don’t ask them to pick their brain. That drives them crazy. Add a little value, just general talk. If you’re going to pick somebody’s brain, you need to invest in them because that’s one of the most frustrating things!

When you work your butt off for something, and somebody wants you to give them everything you’ve learned. They’re not going to appreciate it! Show him you’re listening. Have a general talk and successful people will be willing to talk to you and help you. So get out there and don’t be afraid to talk to people! If you see somebody in your industry who’s doing a better job than you, or succeeding at a higher level, find out what they’re doing.

Find out how you can replicate it. What habits do they have? Are they there before everybody else is? Do they stay after everybody leaves? Just look for those little things that give you the edge to get to the next level.

Let your friends know if you think they’d get some value out of this, or share it with somebody you know that needs a little motivation – a little kick in the pants to get their personal development to another level! Make sure you’re subscribed to the Fight For Your Finances podcast and share it with a friend.

Also, check out my other blog posts here.