20 compounding habits that lead to huge results

Every habit turns out to be an upside advantage or a stumbling block to your best life. Many people desperately want the upside advantage — but their actions lead to a downward spiral.

You can achieve extraordinary results if you identify the few essential and life-changing habits that have a massive impact on your expected trajectory.

“Your little choices become habits that affect the bigger decisions you make in life.” Elizabeth George once said.

Instead of looking for massive results, commit to a few compounding principles, methods, ideas, and behaviours that have the highest potential to change your life.

A few selected compounding habits can quickly transform your life from average to extraordinary. High achievers reply on a few behaviours that make the most impact on their lives.

A thousand dollars invested today can become ten thousand in the future — don’t underestimate the power of compounding. Albert Einstein once said, “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn’t… pays it.”

You can apply the compounding principle to almost every area of your life. These habits practiced over time can yield valuable results over time.

1. Systemise the same decisions you make every day: how you work, what to eat, what to wear, how to start your day, etc. It saves brain energy for high level or meaningful work. A systems-first mentality changes everything.
2. For every life-changing decision you make, think about the second or third-order consequences of your choices. Optimise for minimal regrets.
3. Use at least 10% of your time (daily) to read. The return is exponential. Warren Buffet spends 80% of his day reading. Strong reading habit improves how you think, decide, work, invest or build a better life.
4. Move your body every morning. Spend a few minutes of your morning to stretch. A good physical shape has a massive impact on your brain health, productivity and total wellbeing.
5. Use your mornings for deep, high-value or meaningful work: writing, coding, designing, engineering or creating something — anything that moves the needle.
6. Optimise your diet for brain health. Eat good nutrition that feeds your brain every day. An active brain improves cognition, memory and boosts deep and focused work. Make healthy eating a habit.
7. Optimise your entertainment options to boost learning. Don’t waste time on useless TV. Everything you consume can become a learning experience if you choose wisely.
8. Plan total downtime in your schedule every day. Make time for your brain to reset itself. I use forest baths, intentional silence, and purposeful walks to improve mental clarity.
9. Take a few minutes every evening to prepare for your best day ever. It’s the most efficient way to make the most of the day. “Never go to sleep without a request to your subconscious.” Thomas Edison said. A productive day happens by choice.
10. Commit your action plans, goals and things to do every day on paper. Make things to do tangible and cross them off as small wins. And break down your goals into actionable daily tasks.
11. What are your repeatable morning triggers for a good day? Don’t ever start a day without knowing what to do. How you start your day determines how the rest of the day turns out. “Lose an hour in the morning, and you will be all day hunting for it.” Richard Whately said.
12. Move your body in between deep work sessions. Use your daily breaks for brisk walks and stretches if you don’t work out before or after work. It’s one of the best ways to reset your brain for another deep work session.
13. Expand your worldview a few minutes a day. Pick a new topic every week or month and read insightful articles to gain more profound knowledge or challenge your beliefs. In a year, you will be so smart they can’t ignore you.
14. Automate investment (monthly) as quickly as possible. And then measure compound progress and rebalance when necessary. It frees up time for other high-value tasks that accelerate progress.
15. Learn in public — teach others what you know. Whatever you learn, share with others online if you can. It’s the best networking tool out there. It also helps you retain more of what you learn every day.
16. Immerse yourself in the ideas of great minds — especially those who represent your future self — learning from them through practice. Experiential learning accelerates progress.
17. Build a better evening ritual. Think about all the hours you could be wasting behind a tv every night. I do most of my reading in the evening. Use some of your evening time to invest in your intellectual growth?
18. Expand your sources of personal growth — read biographies, listen to interviews, or watch TedTalks and documentaries. Read both books and long-form essays. Use different content formats for growth.
19. Improve your intellectual capital every day — improve, upgrade or learn new skills (daily) that can prepare you for the uncertain future. Make it a daily habit. You don’t need one long marathon session to learn.
20. If you rent your time to make money, plan to build wealth through capital ownership in the future — start your own business, buy equity in someone else’s business, invest in real estate, stocks or cryptocurrencies. “If you don’t own capital in a capitalist economy, you are the capital.” Sahil, the founder of Gumroad, once said.

John C. Maxwell was right, “You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” The clue to exponential success is hidden in your daily habits.

Time is limited and finite. It’s short. Why waste time on non-essentials. You can achieve 10x results if you know the habits that deliver the most results and repeat them daily. Remember what Hal Elrod once said, “Let today be the day you give up who you’ve been for who you can become.”

This article was originally published by Thomas Oppong