How to Respect the Power of Gradual
Try this as an experiment., Understand that compound interest is a key element of the Power of Gradual., Look for the Power of Gradual in your everyday activities., Understand why the Power of Gradual works., Be ready for the surprise., Be mindful...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Try this as an experiment.
Make a tap leak ever so slightly—maybe a drop every half minute or so.
Put an empty bucket below it.
Now, go on with your day.
Forget about the tap.
Actually, you don’t need to be told to forget the tap.
You just will.
Sometime later, stroll by the bucket.
Holy heck! There’s a lot of water in there.
It might even be overflowing.
That’s the Power of Gradual.
It’s the effect of a small thing happening over and over (and over) again. -
Step 2: Understand that compound interest is a key element of the Power of Gradual.
It turns out that there is a fairly easy way to accumulate a comparatively large amount of money.
It’s slow, but it works.
Put as much money as you can manage into a compound interest account.
The earlier the better, so do it right now.
Make regular deposits into the account.
Don’t look at the account.
Make the deposits automatic so you don’t have to think about it.
Before you know it, it’s time to retire.
Look at the account balance.
Holy guacamole, you’re rich! , Writing is a good example.
If you write every working day for two hours or so, you will find it grows quickly.
Sometimes, it might seem that two hours are wasted because you’ve been doing the literary equivalent of babbling.
Yet, return to the piece the next day and rework it; perhaps you won't even know where it’s going for a few days.
All of “sudden”, it comes together.
Of course, there’s no “sudden” about it.
It’s the Power of Gradual. , The Power of Gradual works because, quite simply, little things add up to a big thing if you have enough little things.
Given enough time, the steady drip-drop of water becomes an ocean.
Given enough time, small regular deposits become a small fortune.
Given enough time, steady work at my awful first drafts yields a passable final draft. , Here’s the thing.
We tend to be surprised by the Power of Gradual.
We’re shocked at the amount of water in the bucket, at the size of our bank account, at the beauty of our writing.
That’s because we pay a lot of attention to the immediate, the big, the splashy.
Examples abound.
We notice the person on television who apparently lost thirty pounds in three weeks.
We pay less attention to our next-door neighbor.
She’s been steadily losing three pounds per month for the last year and a half (54 pounds!).
We weep at the death of our favorite actor or a recent airplane crash, but we are casually indifferent to the increasingly worrying news about the AIDS pandemic in Africa.
We admire a beautiful sentence and forget the hours of slogging it took to get it just-so. , If we allow ourselves to be distracted by the immediate, big, and splashy, we’ll forget about the Power of Gradual.
We’ll cram for the exam the night before instead of reading the text for an hour every day.
We’ll go for a big run every week instead of three or four small runs throughout the week.
We’ll forget about the effects of eating the same fatty breakfast sandwich every morning… , Remember it in your dark moments when the weight isn’t coming off, when you’re poor, or when you can’t think of a way to write something down.
Relax.
Keep going.
It will come. -
Step 3: Look for the Power of Gradual in your everyday activities.
-
Step 4: Understand why the Power of Gradual works.
-
Step 5: Be ready for the surprise.
-
Step 6: Be mindful of this tendency to be surprised.
-
Step 7: Remember the Power of Gradual.
Detailed Guide
Make a tap leak ever so slightly—maybe a drop every half minute or so.
Put an empty bucket below it.
Now, go on with your day.
Forget about the tap.
Actually, you don’t need to be told to forget the tap.
You just will.
Sometime later, stroll by the bucket.
Holy heck! There’s a lot of water in there.
It might even be overflowing.
That’s the Power of Gradual.
It’s the effect of a small thing happening over and over (and over) again.
It turns out that there is a fairly easy way to accumulate a comparatively large amount of money.
It’s slow, but it works.
Put as much money as you can manage into a compound interest account.
The earlier the better, so do it right now.
Make regular deposits into the account.
Don’t look at the account.
Make the deposits automatic so you don’t have to think about it.
Before you know it, it’s time to retire.
Look at the account balance.
Holy guacamole, you’re rich! , Writing is a good example.
If you write every working day for two hours or so, you will find it grows quickly.
Sometimes, it might seem that two hours are wasted because you’ve been doing the literary equivalent of babbling.
Yet, return to the piece the next day and rework it; perhaps you won't even know where it’s going for a few days.
All of “sudden”, it comes together.
Of course, there’s no “sudden” about it.
It’s the Power of Gradual. , The Power of Gradual works because, quite simply, little things add up to a big thing if you have enough little things.
Given enough time, the steady drip-drop of water becomes an ocean.
Given enough time, small regular deposits become a small fortune.
Given enough time, steady work at my awful first drafts yields a passable final draft. , Here’s the thing.
We tend to be surprised by the Power of Gradual.
We’re shocked at the amount of water in the bucket, at the size of our bank account, at the beauty of our writing.
That’s because we pay a lot of attention to the immediate, the big, the splashy.
Examples abound.
We notice the person on television who apparently lost thirty pounds in three weeks.
We pay less attention to our next-door neighbor.
She’s been steadily losing three pounds per month for the last year and a half (54 pounds!).
We weep at the death of our favorite actor or a recent airplane crash, but we are casually indifferent to the increasingly worrying news about the AIDS pandemic in Africa.
We admire a beautiful sentence and forget the hours of slogging it took to get it just-so. , If we allow ourselves to be distracted by the immediate, big, and splashy, we’ll forget about the Power of Gradual.
We’ll cram for the exam the night before instead of reading the text for an hour every day.
We’ll go for a big run every week instead of three or four small runs throughout the week.
We’ll forget about the effects of eating the same fatty breakfast sandwich every morning… , Remember it in your dark moments when the weight isn’t coming off, when you’re poor, or when you can’t think of a way to write something down.
Relax.
Keep going.
It will come.
About the Author
Donald Kelly
Experienced content creator specializing in pet care guides and tutorials.
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