John: You're listening to The Present Professional, where we explore the intersections of personal and professional development.

John: To change your experience of life and work with every episode.

Tony: So tune in, grab your notebook, and let's go. Let's go.

John: Welcome to another episode of the present professional. After 42 episodes and 2000 downloads, Tony and I were talking about the power of consistency before we sat down to record today. And you know, when he mentioned that, We both knew right away that we had to do an episode on the compound effect, the power of consistency, and how this incremental progress, day by day, helps build the life that you want. Because it's done so much for us, and first and foremost, we want to thank you guys as listeners for reaching this milestone with us. So we couldn't have got here without you and we appreciate you. We appreciate you sharing with your networks and giving us feedback about the episodes that are really making a difference for you. So those of you that have reached out that have left reviews, we really appreciate you and it's gone a long way for us. So thank you for being consistent with us and we will continue to show up for you.

Tony: Yeah, double down on that. Thank you guys so much. It's a privilege to have your ear for this long.

John: I couldn't agree more, man. Now, when we talk about consistency and the word discipline always comes to mind and we have this connotation with the word discipline that means forceful and you have to grit and push through. Yet, at the same time, discipline can be learning a skill. Discipline can be really creating a thing of beauty and taking your time with it. You can be disciplined with ease, showing up in a small way every day that helps create something much bigger. This is the way that I try to look at things. I'm approaching my life on an incremental basis so we've talked about goal setting we've talked about creating the vision that you want to live your life by and and what that looks like stepping back to really take stock and plan. But then when it comes to the rubber hitting the road, some of the times the largest goals that you have or the largest things that you want to take down can be attained by doing a little bit every day. I'm talking about 10, 15, 30 minutes a day that if you dedicate that time to, you'll start to gather the momentum of God, the universe, or whatever you subscribe to that gets behind your initiative, because then it's constantly in your consciousness. If you're doing a little bit every day, it's in your subconscious mind, and then your whole environment can start conspiring to give you ideas, to introduce you to the right people, to show you things that you wouldn't have seen otherwise if this wasn't in your field of vision.

Tony: Right, so it's it's all about just boiling things down a little bit and you're not Needing to have that energy of force, but really just the resolve to show up to be there each day yeah, and that's the beauty of the book the compound effect and I remember when I first picked it up and I first discovered it is about eight years ago and like to your point about you know things kind of happening, synchronicity and everything kind of conspiring to your favor. I remember that at that particular time in my life, I was really searching for something bigger. So I had just finished my master's degree and I was like, man, OK, like, you know, I have so much more time now, but like I wanted to learn about entrepreneurship. I wanted to learn about wealth. I want to learn about how money worked, like all the things that school doesn't teach you. I was like, I really like hammering down on this. And somehow, someway, The Compound Effect showed up as a book that was, I don't even know if it was actually recommended to me. I think it just showed up some kind of way. and i just dived and jumped on it and it became like a staple like that book is one of the books that's beaten up in my library like it's probably got stains on it like it's one of those and it's because i really wanted to like break that book into bite-sized chunks where it became almost like a vitamin to me, like a book that I would remember, that I could think back to and take notes from and really use that in my daily life. And I really do. And it's because the book is simple. And like you said, sometimes it's just the smallest things that can lead you to the breakthroughs that you really want in your life. I think for a lot of people who want more in their life, a lot of people who want to maybe have higher positions at work or a more thriving business, or even just healthier relationships, the thread throughout all of that is simplicity and consistency. So if you are doing the smallest things consistently, you will gain the bigger results that you want. And the biggest thing that the compound effect puts out there from a consistency standpoint is what the author Darren Hardy calls the big mo, which is just momentum. And so when you swing it in the right direction, because of those small consistent changes, those small consistent wins, your momentum just swings in that direction, then you don't have to try as hard because you're already swinging in that direction. But when you're starting or if you're in the opposite where your your momentum is carrying you in a negative way, it's harder to swing negative to positive with these big like X swinging swings. You think you're about to like I'm going to change my life today. I'm going to go to the gym and I'm going to work out for an hour today and I'm going to lose all the weight I want to lose. I'm going to become the best person I want. Okay, sure. But what about if you went to the gym for 20 minutes for 30 days straight? That's what Darren Hardy is talking about in the book. the compound effect. And it's that same mindset that you can take into any scenario, whether it's business. If you say, I'm going to make 20 cold calls a day or send 20 emails a day versus thinking you're just going to get this one client that's going to change your life forever. And maybe that can happen, but it is more likely to happen if you or like pushing through waves of small bite-sized chunks. So that's what I love most about the book. And, you know, I could go on and on about the compound effect. But what I say most importantly is I think that for our podcast, as we were talking before we started recording today, I think that we do that. I mean, we started in the very beginning And I don't think we've had one drop off. You know, we started off in the beginning with saying, this is the time we're going to record, this is the style we're going to record, this is what we're going to do. And, you know, we look up and we're almost 50 episodes in. And, you know, that's the compound effect in action in real life. And so, yeah, I just hope that someone takes something from that and they can apply that in whatever way. But just don't worry. Don't think it always has to be big, super huge, hairy, scary changes. Sometimes it's just the smallest things.

John: Yeah. I'm glad you brought up that book and what an impact that it's had on your life. And I love the concept of having a book like a vitamin for your mind like this something that you always return to i think that's something that we don't do enough of like we finish the book and it's like on the shelf as a trophy i've completed right yet it's really it's a resource You know, it's like, you gotta go back to the well. You gotta go back and check things out. You know, you may hear something a little differently at another point in your life. And, you know, there are so many books out there and more and more being published every day, right? In this knowledge economy now, I mean, there's so much information out there. But the gems are gems for a reason, and they'll stay that way, right? So rather than, you know, casting a very broad set of, you know, what you want to fill your mind with, you can come back to that wealth and knowledge like you mentioned, you know, that book taking a beating on your library. I love that. And then I wanted to ask you, when you read that after your master's degree and you were looking for something bigger, you mentioned, what was one practice or maybe the first practice that you started instilling in your life from that book that made a difference for you?

Tony: I think it was actually something that I think that people skip over and that was actually me being consistently physically active and just making sure that I was always working out, making sure that I was always running or whatever it was or whatever it may be for you. as a listener or professional out there, but for me it was just, it was running and it was going to the gym or just something like that. Just being physically active like that, it allowed me to have better thoughts. It allowed me to think more clearly. It allowed me to, and it still does, allow me to just know that when I show up to a place that I am you know, physically fit in some way, even if it's just my own way. Maybe I'm not as fit as the next person, but I'm doing something for me. And he talks about, he doesn't talk about like the power of fitness or anything, but he talked about how There was a woman that he was working with, and she wanted to run marathons. And he's like, okay, well, why don't you start running around your neighborhood? And she took him up on that, and she ran for five minutes, and it was hard, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes, and then it was a mile, and then it was And then the next thing you know, eventually she was running marathons. And so like, I just took that and actually applied that to my own life to say, you know, for me at the time it was running. I actually was already running. And so I actually, I think that was the year, well, 2015 was the year I ran our first half marathon. And it could have been inspired by this book looking back. I don't know. It's a good, good possibility. But I think that there's power in physical movement and physical well-being that we skip over and apply to like, I want to be rich. And it's like, well, why don't you be rich in the mind or rich in the body first? Wow.

John: That's I mean, it's all it's all parallel. Right. how can you be rich in wealth in material wealth, I guess, and, or even just wealth in general, like when it comes to enjoying life type of wealth without putting your health first, without putting your self care and, you know, having consistency and discipline when it comes to taking care of yourself. How can you then have discipline to take care of your business, take care of delivering on your purpose? It's, you know, it really all starts there or else you're just doing what you got to do to get by. You're doing what you got to do to make ends meet, to make people happy, to, you know, just, it feels like you're kind of always catching up to life. But then whenever you're consistent, your health and wellness and the self-care that you need from both mental, physically, emotionally, spiritually, then the consistency in other areas of your life just falls into place. I can notice that with my meditation practice hardcore. And I also want to double down on when I consistency, like when that first started becoming a muscle in my life and one of my key tools and practices, It started in the physical realm as well. Like it started with exercise as well. When I, so I think I've brought this calendar up before in the goal setting episodes, but I have a full year in view dry erase calendar that I keep on my wall and on my bathroom wall, like behind the mirror when I see, so I see it every day. So I know that am I showing up with my consistent activities, you know, that I want to remain consistent in my life every day. And when I do them, I put a slash mark on it. Now, I started using this my senior year of college. What was the first thing that I put on the calendar? It was going to work out, going for a run, going to the gym. That was the first slash mark. The next one was either going to an information session, going to a career fair or applying for jobs online. for at least like it was, I think it was 30 minutes a day. So it would usually be like one to two applications, one event, something like that. And I did that every day. And then my health improved. I was flying out to interviews like every week, every other week. And it was from the power of consistency. I wasn't doing anything really different when I showed up there, but I was getting my reps in. I was getting my reps in career-wise and in the gym, and it was making such a difference in the way that I would show up in my life. and confidence wise, because when you have the momentum like that, it's, and you're rolling with the punches too. So when you take, even if you're taking L's, it becomes, it doesn't attach to you as much. I noticed when I was going after the career that I wanted back then, every no became less impactful the more that I experienced them. So that's another thing is like when you remain consistent, whether it's a good day or a bad day or good things happen, bad things happen, acceptance, rejection, whatever, the more consistently you show up, the more that like, life has to really, really try to slow you down because that momentum is real. And so when it started in the physical for me like that, I mean, I keep that going as well. So still there's a slash mark on that calendar for moving, for exercising, right? Now there's one for meditating that's been there for a while as well. And you know, that's more getting the reps in for my mind and getting the reps in of stillness. And I'm a firm believer that this guidance system and the way that your purpose shows up in life is through quieting the mind. So it's through having the practice of the mind, like then, like you have to let your genius come to you. And if you're constantly being distracted by everything that's happening in your life, Your genius is blocked. Your genius can't come and help you out and guide you towards where's your next step in life. So that's another part of it is like, where do you wanna go? Like, where do you want these incremental steps to take you? And I think quieting the mind's a big part of that.

Tony: And I think that, you know, what you're saying is definitely resonating with me, but it's also like, you know, we as a people, sometimes I think we think we're smarter than we are, or we think we're, so wise or smart, but some of us have no practices or that discipline, most importantly. If you don't have the discipline in your life in any kind of way, in that structure, then you may not be as smart as you think you are. Because I feel like the most disciplined people and the ones who are like, if you ask like probably average multimillionaire celebrity athlete, whatever it may be, whoever's at the top of their game and whatever they do, they will definitely tell you that they're probably super rigorous in their discipline. They may not be rigorous in their like meditation practices or workout working out because maybe they're an artist. But I bet you that the amount of time they paint or the amount of time they record music, or the amount of time they do whatever, like an athlete practice, you know, physically practice, like all that is a compound effect in action. And, you know, if you're just like going by every day, day after day, and you think you have all the answers and you don't have any discipline, I would challenge you to include some discipline into your daily habits and your daily practices and watch what changes for you, especially if you aren't where you really want to be yet or you don't see yourself on that track. And even if you do, like, just add some discipline to what you're doing, because it's only going to make you better and it's only going to make you more humble, too. because like John mentioned, when you take a loss or you take an L, because it happens to all of us, but when you have that physical discipline or that mental discipline or any kind of just structure, it really puts things into perspective and you can really see what the lesson was in the loss, because there's always a lesson in the loss and the smartest people take the lesson and extract that so that they can learn how not to do that again and the wisest people will teach someone else about their loss so that they don't have to experience the same thing.

John: Now let's shift gears a little bit to what inconsistency looks like and you know what are some of the causes of inconsistency and you know when I think about my life some of the biggest times of inconsistency you know when I'm losing practices and another note on this is the compound effect works the other way as well. for the longer that you stay away from your discipline, away from your practice, the more the resistance builds to entering back in. And this is all happening in your mind, right? This mental resistance to jumping back into an activity that, oh, maybe you had regressed on a little bit. Maybe you don't feel as confident in. It's like the longer that you stay away. So even if you're saying, well, I hadn't gotten back into running or working out over the past month, but like, I'll do it tomorrow. Or maybe if you're even saying it's been, it's been a year or two and it feels like there's, I don't know, I feel like that's in my past. That was the old me. No. It can just be different for you now. And it can start in the smallest way. So like there is always hope. Always. So no matter where you're at, just know take that little step and start building those mastery experiences. And then you will build yourself back to the new normal with your discipline. Now, when I think of some themes where I start into that inconsistency, I start to forget my practices and move into reacting to what life's throwing at me. Number one for me is when it comes to trying to please others. When the agendas, when I'm caught up in the agendas of other people, of taking responsibility for other people's happiness and taking responsibility for just other people's objectives, happiness, vision, then the more that that becomes the priority for me, the less I prioritize the things that I need to do to even maintain my support of them. I want to support people. I want to be connected to people in my life. And that requires me to take care of myself and maintain the practices that support that. So that's number one. And then I'd say number two is rushing, moving too fast. when I'm just moving, moving, moving too fast in the direction of, I mean, anywhere, anywhere that I'm going. But when it feels like it needs to be done today, it typically doesn't need to be done today. And, you know, that's the first thing that we tend to sacrifice. I have this deadline. I have, this is busy season at work. So let me just set myself to the side. Let me set my workout, my meditation, my self-care practices to the side and just deal with the priority right now, the urgent matter. And sure, there's going to be times where we set ourselves to the side to show up for our commitments in a way that is needed at that time. But then just know that you will be able to support all of your roles and commitments in life better by taking care of yourself. Even if you step away for a day or two or a week, take a step back, take stock of the things that you are committed to and you are showing up for that's been taking you away from yourself and understand that in order for me to keep showing up for them and this commitment, I need to take care of myself.

Tony: Yeah, man, I'm always for a while now, probably maybe the last few years. I can't say always, but feels like always. I live by this rule, just like when you're on a plane and they give you the instructions and they say that, you know, in the event of a crisis, Make sure that you put your life vest on first and then help the person to the left and to the right of you. Man, that's a lesson. That's a big time metaphor beyond just actually in a crisis or beyond in a life-threatening situation. You really should do that, period. Because if you take care of you and I take care of me, then we can take care of we. I kind of was getting to that in the episode when Crystal came on. And I was like saying that, you know, you aren't responsible for your mate's happiness. And I don't want that to be taken out of context. Like, you should definitely be able to support each other and support your partner and be there for your loved ones. I'm not saying that. And even if you aren't fully 100%, you still should show up for people. But in the event that it's not a crisis, to go back to the stewardess line there, in the event that it's not a crisis, make sure you still take care of yourself and then take care of the person to the right and to the left of you, because it just makes your impact stronger when you show up whole and solid and not in a sacrificial mindset, like not showing up because you have to be there, but you're showing up because you want to be there, because you're fully present. For me, when it comes to states that I've been least consistent, everything you said, but I'd add for me, it's been in states of transition. So the last, oh my God, several years, there's so much transition. So if you would have asked me to do this podcast like three years ago, I could have I would have had to decline because there's no way, I mean that was COVID, but you know, there's no way that I would have been able to perform and not even perform in a sense of be performative, but perform in a sense of show up and be consistent and be the person that I really want to be on something like this and be there for you to actually get 50 episodes. And so in states of transition, I know that I don't do well, and that's maybe just a me thing. I'm just kind of being vulnerable here, just sharing what works for me and what doesn't and that. definitely is when I'm least consistent. And it's not in the sense of transition, like physically moving, but transition in the sense of like life changes. And I've had a lot of those the last few years, but definitely have settled down and simmered down into where I really want to be and really in a great sweet spot and physically moved to. So it's like new environment. And I'm, I'm Big on environment. I'm like an environmentalist in a sense, because I have to have my environment set up to the T. I'm the type of person where I love to be able to close my eyes and know where everything is. If I don't have that, I feel this unsettled spirit. I feel this chaotic, in fact, it's chaos all around me. I don't know. To the opposite of this transition, I'm most consistent when I have that foundation in that good environment to operate from. And a lot of that, I think, comes from childhood. So I grew up, I have siblings, but I grew up by myself and because I'm the youngest. And so, I mean, like my room, like my bedroom, I first of all, lived in the same house for most of my childhood and then moving my bedroom around and reconfiguring it and all that stuff like that. That was just something I did all the time. And, you know, I always knew where everything was because it's my room, you know, I didn't share it. So it's just stuff like that. And as I transitioned into being an adult, same thing, like I just got to have stuff in a certain way and that helps me operate better. So, yeah, I'm here. I'm here now, man. So I'm feeling good.

John: Wow that's setting up your environment and we talked about this a lot in the habits episode recently but your environment can help support your consistency as well and the number one thing just to reiterate because we could say this in every episode because it's that important. is your environment when it comes to the people in your life as well. You know if you're surrounding yourself with people that are prioritizing the same types of discipline in their lives the same types of commitments to themselves and to others and to their discipline and growth the same will happen for you by the by osmosis it just It just will occur period sister start surrounding yourself with people that are moving in the same direction and the one to commit to the same things that you do and Maybe it feels like that's not possible. Maybe it feels like you know, well My family doesn't have the same views and I have to be there. I have to be around them I have to do And that's okay too, but it's still dropping, you can still drop little nuggets of what it's doing for you, and then that helps influence other people. So if you feel like you're surrounded by some people that you're not going to cut ties with, you're not going to shift away from and move towards other people, what you can do is start telling people why things are important to you. is start showing people what kind of impact that it's had on you, not just by telling them. But by letting the results show for themselves, because you can't motivate people, you can't change people against their will, the only thing that you can do is influence their will to change, right? So then how do you influence people's will to change? They have to want to change themselves. Change comes from within. So if the people that are surrounding you are not supporting the habits and consistency that you want to have in your life, start dropping some nuggets, some hints, some benefits that you're experiencing. And when you start showing up happy, when you start showing up with the momentum that builds confidence, when these things start manifesting in your life that are supporting the direction that you're going, people have no choice but to be interested in saying, what's going on? you know what's going on with you i want to know more and then they get curious and give them a little bit more information feed their curiosity let them start off small with you and you'll just watch them start to transform by them making their own choices so just and then if you do have the choice to start immersing yourself in another group, to start immersing yourself with folks that are moving in the same direction as you that we're going to support your consistent habits, then awesome. Like you are going to go far.

Tony: I double down, man. I concur. Nothing else to add. Be the change you want to see. Be the person that you want people to respect you as. And they, like John said, will have no choice but to do it.

John: Right. Well, Thank you guys so much for listening. We are incredibly grateful, like we said at the beginning of this episode, to have you guys as listeners. We thank you so much for those of you that have rated us and left reviews, where you listen to podcasts. That really makes a difference in driving folks to tune in, to join the present professional community. And we're going to be bringing some more topics, some more guests to you coming up. And if you have any suggestions on topics you want to hear or things that you think would be beneficial for us to unpack, please don't hesitate to reach out. It's at the present professional on Instagram, the presentprofessionalpodcast.com. where you can find us, connect with us there. We'd love to hear from you. Don't hesitate and start maintaining that consistency and developing discipline in your life. Discipline with ease. Take care of my friends.