The "compounding effect" of success

The French Emperor Napoleon once visited an elementary school in Luxembourg with his wife.

Every small step forward is a step closer to the goal

Emperor Napoleon of France visited an elementary school in Luxembourg with his wife. Napoleon was very happy with the innocent and lively cultural performances of the children. He made a solemn promise in front of the whole school: In order to thank your school for its hospitality, he would offer a bouquet of roses and would give your school a bouquet of roses of equal value every year on this day as long as France existed, as a symbol of friendship between France and Luxembourg. After saying this, he presented a bouquet of roses worth 3 gold louis to the rector of the school, Ojesson. Later Napoleon was caught up in a war for European hegemony and naturally forgot his promise. 200 years have passed and things have changed. But Napoleon's promise to give a rose is firmly engraved in the hearts of Luxembourgers. They rehashed the story and demanded that the French government fulfill its promise: a bouquet of roses worth 3 gold louis, fully paid up at 5% compound interest. Of course, if the French refused to pay, they could respond publicly in the press that their country's great man, Napoleon, had only lied to his children back then.

Napoleon's reputation, naturally, could not be tarnished by this trivial matter. But the French government's cabinet was completely dumbfounded when it saw the specific compensation figures: a debt of three gold Louis roses, compounded over nearly 200 years, had turned into an astronomical sum of nearly ten million francs. Regardless of the huge amount of compensation to make the French government anxious, from this incident, we see the great power of the compound interest effect. An originally very small number, after years of exponential growth, can become a mind-boggling figure. With the wings of compound interest, you can really soar to the sky.

But in real life, people don't think much of the compounding effect. The reason is very simple: compound interest has to work over a long period of time. People often lack patience, after all, not everyone has the realm of "sitting on the bench for ten years". On the contrary, many people like to achieve quick results, hoping to make a qualitative leap in a short period of time. They are well aware of Eileen Chang's saying that "you have to be famous before it's too late" and desperately want to reach heights that others cannot reach. It is because of this demand that many people have been cut by some so-called "knowledge payment".

The role of "knowledge payment" cannot be completely denied, as some courses and trainings are taught with great time and effort in the preparation stage, and such courses will bring gains to the listeners. However, the market of "paid knowledge" is very large and mixed, and there are inevitably phenomena of substandard and indiscriminate courses. In particular, beware of gimmicks like "21-day crash course" or "one-month learning". It is impossible to master any skill in a short time. Learning is a process of accumulation, in the middle of which you must experience twists and turns and failures, and from the setbacks, you will continue to learn from experience, and then become perfect. Fantasy in just one month to become a big shot in a certain field, is necessarily a dream.

If anyone says to take you overnight riches, overnight God, it is best not to believe, because it is likely to lose the bottom of the night, a chicken feather. No wonder many people bought a bunch of courses, enrolled in a series of training courses, and in the end found that they did not gain much practical content, those gods or unattainable gods, their golden experience does not apply to you. You are a salted fish from the beginning to the end, and even if you turn over, you are still a salted fish.

The process of learning and improving yourself on the ground is a process of constantly generating a repeat performance. This process is a process that constantly produces the compound interest effect. The compound interest effect is an economic term that refers to the interest generated by an interest-bearing cycle, and the original principal as the next new principal, interest rolls over and enjoys the compound interest earnings. The compounding effect is also applicable to personal growth. If the time and energy invested is considered as principal, it will generate interest for personal value enhancement, and these interests will enter the next cycle, continue to invest and keep generating income, and then reach a certain height.

To achieve the compound interest effect, the most important thing is to continue to learn and improve oneself, and this process cannot be interrupted. Interruptions will make the previous efforts come to naught, not to stay at the level before the terminal, but there may be a significant regression, or even back to the starting point. It's like losing weight, it's hard to get down a few kilos by various means, but as long as there is slack, not only will the lost fat grow back, but it may also exceed the level before the weight loss. The process of gaining growth is very difficult, but losing this growth is simply a matter of minutes and seconds.

In addition to not easily interrupting the effort, it is important to summarize the learning process and apply what you have learned to the actual. There are many friends around who believe in the "10,000-hour rule", and they can't be said not to work hard. But after putting in a lot of effort, they still did not achieve the expected results. Could it be that the "10,000-hour law" is not working? Not so! The "10,000-hour law" is only a necessary condition for personal growth, but never a sufficient condition. Like a person to get a paper diploma, only to prove that this person has studied, but does not indicate how good this person is.

If you mechanically equate effort with success, it is the opposite of the road to personal improvement. Learning, effort is necessary, but more to make the unit of time to produce greater benefits, as if to enhance the interest rate in compound interest. Only if the interest rate is raised, you will make greater gains in the interest rollover. Imagine a compound interest rate of 1% and a compound interest rate of 10%, after 10,000 hours of refinement, will definitely produce different results of "master" and "mediocre".

At the beginning, the compounding effect is not impressive, so you don't have to lose confidence. As long as you are on the right path, the slow start will not affect the final destination. As time goes on, compound interest will become more and more frightening in one shot. The reason for this "slow before then fast" phenomenon is that you may be a blank sheet of paper at the beginning, either in terms of personal ability or in terms of networking resources. To leave a strong color on this white paper, you must go through a long process.

Only many people are very short-sighted and believe that the immediate efforts are useless. They harbor a deep sense of fear about the uncertainty of the future and fear that they will be left behind in the fierce competition. At this time, it is very necessary to build confidence and patience. Many self-media gods, seemingly overnight success, actually survived many lonely and lonely nights. For example, to read Jin Yong harvest a large number of fans of the six gods Leilei, we always think he grabbed the wind of the WeChat public number. Unbeknownst to him, he repeatedly studied Jin Yong's works before the wind started, and almost recited them backwards. This process of accumulation, at the time may not see the benefits. In the eyes of onlookers, this person is just an avid fan of Jin Yong, familiar with Jin Yong can not let him earn much money. But the compounding effect, which unfolded unnoticed, opened the gap between Sixth God Leilei and others. Just as the rise of self media, he became popular and achieved a "bend in the road".

Behind every compound interest effect, there is a long night. Only some people welcome the dawn after the darkness with confidence, while others give up looking for the future light with black eyes. "If you don't accumulate steps, you won't reach a thousand miles" and "If you accumulate small victories, you will win big". To achieve the compound interest effect, it is to find the event that can cause the compound interest effect in life and work, and increase the interest rate of this event as well as the number of occurrences as much as possible.