Your life is made up of 90% of the actions you do, be it conscious or not, for better or for worse.
And you know what?
Those seemingly tiny, insignificant choices you make have the capacity to gain momentum. By the time you realise, it’s too late to take control.
Kinda like a small wave before it becomes an unstoppable, 30-storey high Tsunami.
The power of your actions.
To paraphrase Tony Robbins,
Knowledge isn’t power, it is only potential. Actions are powerful.
You resort to self-help books, chant affirmations and perhaps went all the way out to the mountains in search for a guru for an answer.
Do yourself a favour and work on your daily actions.
Okay, I’m following. So, tell me more.
Let’s take an example.
Have you heard about the story of the peasant and the King?
If you’ve heard this before, scroll down to the next paragraph to skip*
A peasant has done something good for the kingdom. As a way of giving thanks, the King would like to reward him, provided if it is within reason.
The smart peasant said that he wanted nothing except a grain of rice as reward for the first day.
The king laughed.
He continued, “I would like his Excellency to multiply the reward by doubling the amount every day, until the checker board is full.”
The peasant elaborated, “Every grain is to be doubled, the following day represents one square of the board. Your Excellency has to keep at it until all the squares are covered.”
The king was surprised, but he dismissed the matter as something trivial and granted his wishes.
The next day, he got 2 grains of rice.
2 grains becomes 4. 4 becomes 8 grains, and so on.
By the 20th day, he obtained 524,288 grains of rice, roughly about a 10 kg sack of rice.
By the 40th day, the sack of rice has been compounded to 1,048,576 sacks of rice.
I don’t need to go on to the 64th day.
You get the moral of the story.
It’s just a story. There isn’t any truth to it.
Of course, stories that persevere through the ages are meant to be remembered for a reason. They are here to educate.
The message remains clear; the wise knew the effects of compounding and applies it into action.
How you can apply it in your life.
Similarly, use the checker board as a measuring tool. Studies have shown that it takes about 66 days (close enough) to make a new habit last. The checker board also function as a momentum builder and discourages skipping a day to break the chain of success.
On your end, make a conscious decision to start on the actions you want to amplify.
For example,
Refrain from drinking 1 cup of coke, which equals to 7 spoonfuls of sugar.
Or wake up 30 minutes earlier for starting up the day.
I like this article by Nicolas Cole which you can use for a start.
Finally, calculate on the potential by the time you get to the 64th checker board.
