The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success

Building momentum begins with small steps, like a kid pushing a playground merry-go-round loaded with friends. The first steps are slow and plodding as the kid pulls hard on the merry-go-round, but soon it’s going faster and faster until she jumps on and joins the whirl. Now and then, the kid steps off and pulls for a few steps on the ride until it’s back up to speed. Thus, once the initial effort gets the ride going, it’s relatively easy to keep it in motion.

Likewise, the Space Shuttle spends most of its fuel simply getting to orbit. Once there, though, it’s on an easy glide. Apple struggled for years until its iPod finally caught on and became the biggest-selling music device. Once that happened, “Big Mo”—momentum—took over, and Apple products, including the iPhone, continued to dominate the market.

Momentum happens when consistent habits are embedded into routines. Golfer Jack Nicklaus worked the same routine before every shot so precisely that he never varied its timing by more than a second. Pros like football kickers and pilots use exacting routines to help guarantee their performance and put them into the correct head space for maximum performance: “Of all the high-achievers and business leaders I’ve worked with and observed […] each has developed consistent routines for carrying out their daily disciplines” (99).