The Meaning of Personal Transformation

/en , , , , , , , , /por
Photo by Phil Evenden on Pexels.com

I have been reflecting these past days about the word transformation.

We know that life’s engine is through transformation. Everything alive evolves to fulfil a specific purpose. A small seed can transform itself into a wondrous Oak tree, just as a small caterpillar transforms itself into a  beautiful butterfly.

But what does that mean for us? How can we be aware of our own transformation?

Just the other day I heard a remarkable speech by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which precisely talks about transformation. He shared his own experience with this phenomenon. What he said really stuck with me and made me think further about the topic. 

He shared his own experience with transformation. During his youth, he used to be a drug addict and he even described himself as a “bundle of desires”. His life was completely driven by a total self-will. After a certain time, a life driven by self-will ends up becoming meaningless. He struggled to find meaning anymore to what he was actually accomplishing. The world seemed chaotic, dull and unbearable. Until one day, he decided to surrender, and turn his will to a Higher Power. Once he surrendered to serve a higher purpose, is when he understood the meaning of transformation.

Every decision in his daily life, whether small or big, had now a moral dimension, and he realised that by making the right choices his life started to change and rewards and blessings came very fast. He keeps on saying that when his life became fully rewarded he still tries to keep his humility in place because that’s the only way that you can keep connected to the Higher Source. It is particularly challenging when things are going well in your life, he says, because when things go well one hardly thinks about God or in asking for help. 

Most people who are desperate and helpless tend to turn to God for help. But what happens when you are doing great? How do you keep finding meaning in your life despite your many blessings?

This explains maybe why so many people experience anxiety and depression, even though theoretically they have everything: a house, food on the table, and even family and friends who love them. Why do so many people fall into addictions and cravings of all types? Wouldn´t it be because they are lacking a life with real meaning?

When I examine my own life, I realize that what keeps me going is my desire to help. I have a deep desire to be of service and to share everything I know that can help people navigate through this dense, toxic World. I know that I have the moral responsibility to act in the service of what is right and what I regard as the truth. I wake up every day thinking I have to report to God for another day at His service. 

To take decisions with a moral dimension is what psychologist Jordan Peterson would say is making your bed every day, tidying up your room and showing up at work even if you don’t feel like it- because it is not about you, but it is all about what you are offering to the World. Is to work towards becoming a much better person than what you are today. It is to explore the potential of being. It is in the limits of the unknown where we have the field play of becoming. 

Eventually, how others see you means nothing. What is meaningful is how you see yourself. A superior man thinks about virtue; a petty man thinks about comfort.

How do you feel about the word transformation?

How would you transform yourself into someone who can live purposefully and plenty?

 I would love to hear your experience.

To learn more about the topic, I invite you to read my book:

The Success Mindset: Take back the leadership of your mind

God bless,

Paola K.

A World of Illusions: My new authored book!

/en , , , , , /por

Dear readers,

We are living at a critical point in our history, and our human civilization as we know it is on the verge of a radical transformation.

In our attempt to regain our lost paradise, we can become obsessed with recovering a sense of security, even if it is for just a brief moment. The problem is that we are often looking in the wrong places. It turns out, most things that society promises will bring us happiness never really live up to their expectations. The moral compass that defines our Western societies seems to be pointing us towards decadence; people are moving away from patriotism, religion, and family values, and are falling prey to ideologies that represent the antithesis of those values: intolerance, violence, anti-family agendas, and an overall lack of moral compass.

The shift in values has been a gradual process, it happens without us really noticing, as has been the case throughout history. After all, daily life for most of us is busy, it’s hard to pay attention to how our society has been transforming itself over the decades; most of us think that “Zeitgeist,” the spirit of our times, is defined by humanity itself. But what if that weren’t the case? What if we are falling prey to dark forces that are governing our lives from the shadows?

I INVITE YOU TO JOIN OUR REVOLUTION – the revolution of the awakening souls.

Order your copy on Amazon now!

El Verdadero Sentido del Trabajo

/en , , , /por
Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.com

Tal vez te sientas identificado: Lunes a las 6:00 A.M suena el despertador, y se siente como una tortura. Después de gozar del fin de semana, en donde puedes hacer lo que quieras con tu tiempo, llega el indeseable lunes a recordarte que no eres libre, que tienes un compromiso con el “trabajo”.

Con excepción de unos pocos, la gran mayoría de la gente puede identificarse con ese escenario. “Ni modo, cuando toca, toca” porque todos necesitamos comer, y la libertad no es duradera. Siempre me ha llamado la atención la asociación del trabajo con “ganarse la vida”. ¿Qué significa ganarse la vida? En el mundo moderno, ganarse la vida significa trabajar para poder pagar las cuentas, la comida, la vivienda… en fin, poder mantener un estilo digno de vida. 

El sentido del trabajo ha perdido la su verdadera esencia: la dignificación humana, el poder darle sentido a la vida por medio de nuestras creaciones, y en el proceso, llegar a conocernos a nosotros mismos.

La única manera de sentirse digno de sí es cuando estás orgulloso de lo que haces, y lo haces con gusto. No tienes que ser un artista, poeta, escritor o cantante para sentir que con tu trabajo contribuyes a la capacidad creativa de la humanidad. Oficios como trabajar la tierra, construir algo con tus manos, servir a los demás a través de algún servicio son otras formas de encontrar un sentido más profundo y vivo al trabajo.

En mi libro “The Sucess Mindset”, enfatizo también que una vocación debería estar conectada a una visión más profunda de tu vida.  Es importante hacerte las siguientes preguntas. ¿Qué es para mí el trabajo?, ¿Para qué trabajo?, ¿Cómo mi trabajo le da sentido a mi vida?

Si al intentar responder estas preguntas te das cuenta que no encuentras otro sentido o razón más que ganar dinero, entonces querido amigo, no estás trabajando libremente, si no que estás esclavizado. 

Antes del siglo XX, los trabajos tenían un rol central en la vida de las personas. Confeccionar ropa, trabajar en el campo, construir muebles, y todo tipo de trabajo manual era indispensable para servir a la comunidad y al mismo tiempo, le daba un sentido especial a la persona que ejercía esa vocación. La satisfacción no venía del dinero ganado, si no del orgullo de la creación o de la acción.

Hoy en día, con la modernización de casi todo tipo de trabajo manual, este honor a la creación humana se ha estado perdiendo, quizás para no volver. El confeccionar una pieza de ropa con muchas horas de dedicación y con materiales elaborados ha sido reemplazado por gigantescas fábricas maquiladoras que confeccionan ropa estándar en minutos.

El arte ser agricultor, el conocimiento de los ciclos de cosecha en base a las estaciones del año y las condiciones de la tierra, se van desvaneciendo ante los campos masivos de monocultivo que se auto- regulan con fertilizantes y otras tecnologías.

El escribir una carta con puño y letra, a consciencia y bien elaborada, se ha reemplazado por escribir en teléfonos móviles tres palabras y con “emojis”.

La fuerza cultural que define al humano en base a su trabajo y a la creatividad del mismo se está perdiendo, en esta nueva forma de “trabajar”.

Los trabajos de hoy en día, requieren de habilidades estandarizadas aprendidas desde la escuela. Tienes que aprender los temas actuales que ayuden a las empresas a producir bienes y servicios. Tienes que ser un buen administrador, contador, ingeniero, informático, y lo que sea necesario para servir bien a la economía de hoy, que está enfocada en producción y consumismos excesivos, en donde los que ganan son los que ponen las reglas del juego.

A las grandes empresas no sólo les compramos los bienes y servicios que ofrecen, sino que también les regalamos nuestro tiempo y nuestra alma al contribuir activamente a la construcción, automatización y dominancia de los mismos, trabajando para ellos.

Tal vez es momento de pararse un poco a reflexionar: ¿Porqué seguir apoyando este sistema de esclavitud? ¿Porqué seguir aceptando esta forma “moderna” de trabajar, donde todo tiene que ser rápido, eficiente, al más bajo costo? 

¿Porqué tenemos tanta prisa? ¿Cuál es la obsesión de hacer todo más rápido y más barato? 

Un trabajo hecho sin sentido es una vida mal gastada.

Volvamos a lo que hace grande a la humanidad: La capacidad de crear y de hacerlo en el ritmo natural, respetando sus tiempos y con ello disfrutando la maravilla de sentirse vivo, sin prisas.

The Benefits of Self-Authoring

/en , , , /por
Photo by Dziana Hasanbekava on Pexels.com

I write a journal with personal reflections since I’m 7.

Life was never easy, but to have a space where I could reflect and write about my whereabouts and my feelings certainly made things clearer to me.

Some people call it journaling, writing in a diary, that kind of stuff. Although self-authoring is quite different, in my opinion. When you have a journal, you can just write observations about everything- about yourself but also everything that surrounds you. Could be stories, reflections, experiences and the like. With self-authoring, you are going a step further. You open up to think -and- write- about who you think you are: You go to the depths of your being, as uncomfortable as it is. 

You are able to rip yourself layer by layer like an onion. With every depth you reach, the pain comes closer and closer. Most people give up by the second or third layer. We like to see ourselves as inherently good people and all we believe must be the truth. But is it really?

When a close friend reaches success and is doing fantastic and you feel jealous about it, what do you do with that jealousy? Do you confront it straight into the eyes, or do you hide it below the carpet, and pretend you feel happy for his or her success when deep inside you feel quite miserable?

The madness of this world is not easy to digest, because we don’t like to see the part we play in it. If we suffer a social crisis if the world is “mad” is because of the wrongdoing of others but not because of my own actions, right? Well, we are as guilty as charged in contributing to that madness. How so? By our own virtual signalling, by pretending to be morally superior and suppressing our darkness.

Allan Watts once said “The reason you want to be better is the reason why you aren’t”- this has a profound meaning. I think this phrase alone describes the tragedy of our civilization.

What does it mean to become better? Better than what? Why would a flower, a deer or a wave in the ocean pretend to become “better” than the other? Who or what defines what is actually better?

Self-authoring, which means, writing, reflecting and looking at yourself in the mirror with all of its untold truths- is what has kept my sanity all these years. To be able to write who I think I am in a raw sense of things- not pretending I am good, or right or wrong. Simply observing, documenting, reflecting. Yes, I feel jealousy. I feel scared. I feel sorrow and I feel lost. On paper, I cannot hide it to myself. I have to confront the judge. So, you feel miserable. Why is that so?

Yes, you feel jealous and resented that your best friend is doing much “better”. Why is that so? Is it helpful? Is it meaningful?

Confronting our own demons, and our own miseries are our main task in this human existence. Then and only then, we will be able to really see the light. You cannot recognize light unless you come from the darkness. That’s a way  to come in peace with ourselves, with others and with our destiny. 

 I believe in becoming more human, not a better human, simply more human. To keep our feet on the ground, our hearts wide open and embrace everything that comes with our human experience. 

Let’s Talk About Mental Health

/en , , , /por
Photo by Riccardo on Pexels.com

You might often hear that “No news is good news” but it isn’t the case when we talk about recognizing mental health disorders. Those tend to be silent witnesses. People that suffer from depression and anxiety do not recognize so quickly that something is wrong inside of them until it explodes and manifest as external acts of aggression, sadness and suicidal thoughts.

What can we do to become more aware of it? Can we do something about it?

It is one of the deepest mysteries of human nature: with our thinking faculties and our capabilities to become over-conscious about life together with the speed of events happening around us, it is becoming more and more difficult to grasp and take back our ability to control our minds and our emotions.

 I believe we have been losing our capability to become more resilient in difficult times. The progressive agendas in the era of hyper-industrialized and full-speed technological world is letting behind our human capacity to cope with difficult situations. It is simply too much for our brains to process and digest the vast amounts of information being received everyday by the little device we carry with us every single day.

The era of hyper-connectivity in all areas of our life is threatening our inner desire to be part of a small community. Slowly and dangerously, vast online network communities are replacing real personal connections. Some decades ago, it was unthinkable to have multiple contacts with vast amounts of people. Only our neighbours, school colleagues and family were the people we really had contact with. Now you are a click away from vast amounts of people in the social media world. But is this better? Is this an advancement towards a better and smarter civilization?

In many ways, it seems like it is. In the digital era, you can have everything available at your fingertips. On the other side, we train less our capability to be patient, to wait for proper and real human interaction. We become obsessed with superficial “likes” and attention, that lasts maybe a few seconds before the new feed shows you something new. 

I believe that the increasing levels of anxiety and depression are a direct consequence of the new digital world that is being pushed towards us with high speed and which is not our natural human way of living. Therefore, it is important to take a step back and reflect on how much this hyper-connectivity to the online world is harming your mental health.

I propose these simple but powerful steps to reflect and gain back some critical thinking about how to use the online world more consciously:

  • Recognize that you have an addiction to your mobile phone

It is a well-known fact that smartphone overuse is as addictive as any other drug. The apps we tend to use for social media interaction and other activities like shopping, gaming, etc. are designed to keep your attention as long as possible and as frequent as possible. Therefore, once you start to depend on the use of your smartphone for your daily activities, the higher the likelihood you will develop an addiction to it.

A well sound advice would be to go back to the old times when you just used your phone for making calls and use your laptop for everything else.  Delete the apps that you know cause distraction. Try to stay a day or two smartphone free. You will realize that is not the end of the world- you will actually feel more calm and more relaxed!

  • Make an effort to connect with your local community and meet your friends in person

Do you remember when you used to call a friend by phone and just talk for hours? Or go for a walk in the park, buy some ice cream and sit on a bench to observe people and have long conversations? Nothing the online world offers is more gratifying than that. A quick “like” or quick byline message gets lost in the enormous amount of info trash. 

Go out, meet your friends, have some drinks and have fun the old-style!

  • Do walks in the nature, swim in the sea or in a lake nearby

Direct contact with nature is a wonderful and natural anti-depressant. Just try it out- walk in a park barefoot and hug a tree. Close your eyes and see how this connection brings you a calming influence. Enough exposure to sunlight is a wonderful antidote against depression. 

  • Turn off the Wifi before going to sleep

Good sleep is key to maintaining a balanced and healthy mood. The increasing use of Wifi and the electromagnetic radiation soup to which we are exposed daily have negative consequences on our overall health, according to recent studies. Among the side effects of being exposed to EMF (Microwave electromagnetic frequencies) includes “oxidative stress, sperm/testicular damage, neuropsychiatric effects including EEG changes, apoptosis, cellular DNA damage, endocrine changes, and calcium overload”…

So, it is wise to avoid very long exposures to any place with strong wifi signals (be aware of 5G antennas!) and especially before going to sleep, turn off your wifi router. 

  • Talk about it and ask for help

I know it is very hard to talk to people when you feel down. If anything, we try to avoid people and feel like staying home watching tv at best. And sometimes that helps. But when you realize that you are feeling more and more down, it is time to reach out for help.

Talk to a counsellor, therapist, or a close friend. Dostoyevsky used to say “I like being alone, but I don’t like feeling lonely”. There is a difference between having time alone for reflection and peace of mind and thinking you are alone against the world. 

How to Tune Out Social Media and Tune Into What Gives Your Life Purpose 

/en , , , /por
Photo by Oladimeji Ajegbile on Pexels.com

No one can deny that we’re living in a digital world. Day by day, we’re spending more and more of our time staring at screens: checking updates on social media on our smartphones, checking emails from work on our laptops, and watching videos from famous influencers on our tablets.

Without realizing it, we’ve allowed an increasing number of people to influence our perception of reality. You’ve probably already heard in your social circles that “if you don’t post it, it didn’t happen.” What gets posted on social media becomes a “proof of truth” of your whereabouts.

But what happened to the good ol’ times when you used to hang out in secret with friends or your partner, enjoying the thrill of being “just the two of you”? Nowadays, it seems like we can’t live without social acknowledgment from hundreds of others as we post our secret gatherings on social media.

Letting others define who you are has devasting consequences

The power we’re giving away to social platforms—and to letting other people define who we are—has devastating consequences, especially to young people who are still finding themselves.

Just look at the alarming and increasing rates of people experiencing depression worldwide. It’s obvious that we need to flatten this curve and figure out what’s triggering our social media addictions. We need to learn how to disconnect from our online lives so that we can finally dedicate time to ourselves and explore what’s truly meaningful.

So, you might be wondering: “How can I log out from social media and tune into my own life?”

Based on years of self-introspection and observing what’s worked for clients in my coaching practice, here are the top three steps that will help you the most:

1.    Recognize that you have an addiction.

The first step is to become aware that excessive use of social media is an addiction, much like an addiction to drugs or alcohol, and it must be treated as such.

As with any other addiction, it’s helpful to ask for help in the beginning. Ask a friend or close relative to help you curb your use of smartphones and other electronic devices. Consider deleting social media apps so they don’t distract you from your home or work life.

The rewarding social stimuli that you get every time you receive a notification on your phone or tablet releases dopamine in your brain, which makes it feel like a pleasant reward. But the unlimited supply of notifications from apps like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok sets you up to receive a big dopamine influx and, therefore, keeps reinforcing the behavior of checking your phone every time it sounds or vibrates.

A recent review by Harvard University clearly shows that this pattern creates dopamine-driven feedback loops, eventually turning us into addicts and down a path to increased depression, anxiety, and sleep difficulties. By recognizing your addiction, you can make this stop.

2.    Make a daily schedule for checking your phone—and stick to it.

I know this isn’t an easy suggestion. It requires willpower and discipline. But as with everything that can be addictive, you need to create a healthy balance that keeps you in control.

Plan specific times, or blocks of time, that you will dedicate to checking social media. Try to stick to this schedule as much as possible. If you don’t follow the schedule to the letter in the beginning, that’s OK, as long as you become consciously aware of it and make an effort to correct your behavior the next time.

With some discipline, you’ll enjoy the new freedom that comes from the practice of dominating your own time and schedule!

3.    Reconnect back to your craft.

There once was a time when life’s greatest gifts came from what you could do with your hands. There were no high-tech devices, no outsourcing services, and no one who performed jobs for you. People learned to craft what they needed for themselves. We harvested our own food. Cooked it. Designed and sewed our own clothes. We built our own homes. People used to take pride in what they could do with their bare hands. 

In modern times, we’ve lost our sense of craftsmanship and our love for what we could do with our hands, and we exchanged it for electronic devices and building an online persona.

Why not take time off from your screens and create more things with your hands? You’ll be surprised by how rewarding this is. Take pride in your ability to create and design something by yourself. Whether it’s a table, a house, a painting, or a book, craftmanship is the highest expression of human creativity.

Try it out. Tune out your social media devices and tune into real life. Meet real people in real time, make something with your hands, and fully enjoy these off-screen moments. In them, happiness is guaranteed.

*****

PAOLA KNECHT es una coach certificada en liderazgo, transformación y desarrollo personal,  autora de The Success Mindset: Take Back the Leadership of Your Mind y Un Mundo de Ilusiones. Puedes obtener más información en my-mindpower.com.

The Armored Man

/en , , , /por
Photo by Jerome Dominici on Pexels.com

I have seen you in front of a mirrow, Armored Man

why are you so afraid?

Why do you move so rigidly?

I try to look into your eyes, but you don’t want to look at me,

you see me and lower your sight;

Are you afraid of me?

Are you afraid of what you will see through my eyes?

I guess you are, Armored Man.

You will see yourself, reflected.

The other day I tried to talk to you,

but you rolled your eyes and walked away;

You don’t want to listen,

it’s impossible to have a conversation with you,

you have eyes to see and ears to hear

but you refuse to use them;

You want to remind blind to your own realities.

Armored Man, why are you so afraid of the truth?

 You cherish the courageous, but refuse to take action;

You blame and judge others,

but are uncapable to see your own misery.

Armored Man, your life is so small inside that armor 

you can barely walk straight

there is so much heavy weight to carry on…

Armored Man,

you dream about Life,

but are unable to live Life.

Why are you so afraid?

Why do you want to remain hidden?

You cannot escape Life, Armored Man

it’s time to face it;

Take out your heavy armor,

and open your heart,

feel the living force inside,

and let it run free!

I have seen you in front of a mirror, Armored Man.

Paola Knecht- February 2022

On The Road To Transformation

/en , , , /por

Many people believe transformation means chaos and uncertainty, but actually, the real transformation comes from a source of stillness.

On my usual jogging trail in my beloved forest, I couldn’t stop admiring the wonderful stream of autumn colors- the colors of transformation: The once summer bright green dominating the trees scenery being transformed into different shadows of yellow, orange and reddish… it happened so subtle but at the same time with such as speed that I wonder how could it transform itself so quietly before anyone ever noticing of it.

It made me reflect in our own transformational journey. Every day we have the opportunity to transform ourselves. Every fresh morning we have at our disposition a full day with unlimited opportunities. What do you decide to do on a certain day? Do you go on with your day with a planned agenda, dictating every hour of your life, or do you leave some room for silence and observation, for bringing some awareness of what is really happening on the now? 

We often say that change is the only constant in life, but, are we aware of what is changing? How does change affects you on the way you think, act and feel? Are you aware of the forces driving the change? 

Only by sitting back and observe is when we are really able to get awareness of the mechanisms of transformation. In autumn also starts the daylight transition in preparation for the winter: The days start to get shorter, the nights longer. The sun starts delaying its appearance and shines subtler, humbler. The trees start to experience the fall of leaves. Our bodies feel the need for more rest and less frenetic activity. Everything in the environment is calling us for slowing down and make time for reflection.

In our attempt to fill out our days with frenzy activity, we tend to ignore the signals from our environment. We keep waking up at the same time, we strive to do all our deeds with the same energy and determination. We push our bodies and our minds to keep striving, to keep going, and we miss the opportunity to sit back in stillness to steer our own transformation.

Today, I set you a challenge for change: what if you turn off the alarm clock and just wake up together with the sun at least once a week? what if instead of staying up so late watching a movie or looking at your mobile as usual, you go to sleep as soon as the moonlight is starting to appear in the horizon?  What if instead of filling your days with endless to-do lists, we let ourselves one day of quietness and enjoy fresh smell of zimt, pumpkin and wood?

I wonder what would happen, if we tune back to the peace of transformation that our beloved environment displays to us in such a wonderful and wise manner. Maybe we will shed light on our own transformation in so many new ways!

The Success Mindset, my first book coming soon!

/en , , , /por

Dear readers,

I have been working very hard these past weeks/months. As a mother of two toddlers, working almost full time in my praxis, reading, and of course, writing sometimes is difficult to find some quiet time to catch up. However, I didn’t want to wait any longer to share with you the great news that my first authored book, The Success Mindset, is soon going to be published on Amazon!

This is a dream come true for me. Since I was a little kid, I loved to read, write and hear stories about people. For many years, I’ve been studying the lives of leaders who I consider have been the most transcendental in human history. I have read and learnt intensively about the life of great philosophers, entrepreneurs, athletes and artists. Successful people from all paths of life.

I always wondered, what it is about them that made them so successful in life. Was it their life circumstances? Their luck? Their wealth? Their faith?

My quest in finding the truth- a truth I found fascinating because it applied as well to nearly every individual with real success- inspired me to document everything I have seen and learnt over the years and summarise them in a series of principles.

When I became a professional coach and started to get my first clients, I decided to apply those principles, and saw great results. My clients were able to transform their lives by discovering what gives them real joy and plenitude. 

I have discovered my mission, and through this book I will guide you to find your own. 

You will discover what is the difference between the feeling of a life that has a direction and a meaning, an inexhaustible capacity to prove a source of personal fulfilment and joy, and that of a life marked by compromise with a daily reality that seems to have forever frustrated our own ability to aspire to something different, better, to succeed.

Curious to know more?

Pre-order NOW your Kindle copy in Amazon following the below link:

There will be a Paperback version too, which will be available for pre-order on September 26, 2021

The official publication day is October 29, 2021!

Stay Tuned! And thank you for being here 🙂

“Paola Knecht’s book goes even deeper, going so far as to shed light on the deep mysteries of the human personality itself, on the secrets of that inner voice that has guided so many great leaders in their choices that have influenced millions of people, on the enigmas of that intuition that seems to be our most intimate connection with infinity.

«The Success Mindset» is an amazing book, and it is a must-read.”- J.E. King

The Compounding Effect

/en , , , /por
Photo credit: Paola K

Doing small actions everyday have a compounding effect. This term is widely used in the financial sector to describe what happens to every dollar you put as investment at a certain interest rate which keeps being reinvested and accumulating earnings over every dollar invested over time. We can apply the same concept to the small actions we are investing everyday in the fulfillment of our goals. Derren Hardy, author of the book “ The Compound Effect” defines it as a strategy to reaping big rewards from small, seemingly insignificant actions performed consistently over a period of time.

Every day we are confronted with the choice of what to do with our 24-hours we have at our disposition. Most people do not go consciously choosing what to do at every moment in their waking time. Sadly, some people just pass through the day without ever noticing in which activities they are investing their precious time and where is it taking them to.

But what if you knew that those little, apparently insignificant things that you do everyday accumulate over time and end up being the result about who you are at the present moment? And who you will be in the future? What we call our past, is nothing more than the result of the accumulation of all the small choices we have been doing up to now.

Taking advantage of the compounding effect, we could plan our day in a way that every activity that we perform goes in relation to fulfil our goals and the kind of life we want for ourselves. Success is not a result of one single action, or a lucky event that happens randomly. Success is the result of a consistent set of actions performed over time in a way that keeps you moving forward.

Think about the endless hours of training that elite athletes invest everyday for years, to prepare for a single event, like the Olympic games or a world championship. Think about the mother who invest restless nights over several months in order to keep breastfeeding their babies as long as possible so they can grow healthy and strong. Every great effort and achievement comes from the seeds of action, consistency, perseverance and a unwavering focus on what is being done in the present.

Observing the nature can also give you great insights of the wonderful way the compound effect works. An Oak tree takes around 30-40 years to grow. At the time of planting the seed, several weeks and months can pass by without noticing any apparent movement on the soil. Suddenly, a small stem will eventually show out of the ground “out of the blue”. This small stem over time will convert itself into a full grown mature tree that can reach up to three meters high and can produce fruit and acorn for the next forty years. Oak trees can last as long as 300 years! Who would have thought, that such a tiny seed planted in the soil, will convert itself from a tiny oval into a majestic Oak tree?

Nature is a majestic teacher full of wisdom. Observe the works of nature and you will get very valuable insights about how life works. If you have a goal, but feel lost and do not know to start, do it like nature, start small. Start doing small and humble actions that bring order into your life and give you a sense of accomplishment. Get up early, do your bed, maintain order in your living space. Write down your dreams, fantasize and write down how to get there. Then decide what will you do today to reach them. It can be a small thing like writing an email, get subscribed into a course, call a friend, go out and do some sport.; read some books and invest in getting yourself as much educated as possible.

Do all those small things repeatedly and consistently and after 15 years you will be unbeatable!